The entire notion of Vegas being against online gambling is a myth. In the interest of saving time, I’ve copied a bit I wrote a while back:
Quote:
I wonder when the land based casino’s here in the US will start up offshore versions of their casinos?A few have already and failed miserably. Hard Rock, MGM and Harrah’s (only a bingo site for UK players) all have given it a go.
There’s a bit of a history lesson here, so sorry if I bore anyone…
Going back to the summer, previous to the Trade Center bombings, Nevada had voted to move forward with online gambling for the land-based properties. Following the vote, things moved to the Nevada legislature to sort out the odds and ends–things were looking quite good. The land-based casinos had their software in the ready and were anxious to get moving.
Then 9/11 happened–everything changed. Due to the overall climate in the US (helped by the ridiculous McCarthy-esque Patriot Act), all movement within the Nevada legislature regarding online gaming was dropped. The Patriot Act all but prevented things from going further.
With that, Hard Rock and MGM decided to take things into their own hands by spending over $10million each to become one of only a handfull of casinos to license through the Island of Man (IOM). The IOM seemed like a great way to go, as they have the stiffest policies for their licensees–everything would have to be aboveboard. Great as this may be, however, there was to be one stipulation–IOM would not permit Hard Rock and MGM to allow US players (even if they had, though, it would never have flown with Nevada Gaming laws for the land-based counterparts). As a result, MGM and Hard Rock never gained solid footing, as they were marketing to countries where their land-based brand names had no brand recognition, whatsoever. With high licensing fees, etc., these casinos never had a chance.
In the case of Harrah’s, they recently attempted a fairly goofy stab at opening up a bingo site in the UK. Harrah’s is now the largest land-based operator in the world and they have plans to build land-based properties in the UK. In theory the move to test Harrah’s in the UK would seem brilliant, due to the UK’s move to regulation. Unfortunately, it was not great software, the marketing of the site was not organized and things fell apart quickly.
For the future, don’t count MGM and Hard Rock out. Moreover, Harrah’s is likely to have the greatest impact of any US land-based operator. Because they have a huge interest in traditional land-based casinos AND Indian gaming (Indian gaming has been using their deep-pockets in an effort to lobby against online gaming), Harrah’s is something of the “great white hope” to affect a change on US policy. They’re the only Indian gaming-involved entity pushing for online regulation, plus they have their interest in the UK market, which the US will be greatly influenced by.
Beyond all this, you can be certain that just about every major land-based casino in Vegas is poised with software, marketing plans, and big money to be ready for the moment when they can do so in a legal environment.
Sorry if anyone fell asleep while reading this–you probably needed a good nap anyhow.
What you need to consider in all this is which states have put up the biggest fight against online gambling. Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Iowa and Tennessee. All but Tennessee have tremendous Indian gaming interests.
Due to certain treaties, Indian gaming may only take place on Indian soil. What this means is that Indian gaming would not have the ability to open online operations, should the US ever give the green light. On the flip-side, traditional land-based (i.e., Vegas, Atlantic City) would dominate online gaming.
Would the advent of regulated online gambling have a negative impact on Indian gaming? Doubtful. If you think back, Vegas and Atlantic City fought to prevent Indian gaming, claiming this would do enormous financial damage to these towns. This certainly was not the case, particularly with Las Vegas. Las Vegas can’t build hotels fast enough to keep up with the growing demands. And without question, online gambling has done nothing to slow gambling growth in any arena, be it Vegas, Atlantic City, Indian gaming, whatever.
So cutting to the chase, nope…no conspiracy here, other than Indian gaming’s fear of revenue loss.
An interesting read on this situation, which will hopefully bring a bit more insight:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=akHqMtqYNtcI&refer=europe