It would have been nice to see the online gambling
ban in the U.S. lifted from the sheer voice of U.S.
citizens raising up (in arms if necessary) and
demanding their right to gamble online. But since we
all know that's probably not going to be the case,
bringing in the heavy weight lobbying arms of
land-based casino giants like Harrah's, is better
than nothing.
Of course, the "smaller" online
casino operators and affiliates taking in the lion's
share of U.S. based traffic currently would rather
just have things stay the way they are, knowing all
to well that when universally branded names like
Harrah's enter the market, there is going to be a
big dent in business. Yet, the truth of the matter
exists that this may just have to be the way things
go in order to get online gambling regulated in the
States.
Thus far during the battle to get the U.S. to
regulate, land-based gambling giants have been
adamantly opposed to the idea. However, as the
economy drags lower and lower, business continually
drops, regulation is successfully employed in other
market like the UK, and legislation to regulate is
now on the table, US-based brick 'n mortar casinos
have been slowly coming around to the idea of
regulating online gambling. In the case of the
world's largest gambling operator - Harrah's - it's
been more like turning on a dime.
Squashing all speculation that Harrah's was
considering the prospects of online gambling, the
company has formerly announced the formation of a
new subsidiary called Harrah's Interactive
Entertainment Inc. - being headed up by none other
than former Party Gaming exec, Mitch Garber.
Harrah's President and CEO, Gary Loveman, said in a
press release that Harrah's is taking a "proactive
approach" to expanding their interactive division,
primarily in the European sector.
This essentially means that Garber will be
working with World Series of Poker Commissioner,
Jeffrey Pollack, to expand the World Series of Poker
brand. Whether or not the U.S. decides to regulate
or not, one would think this to entail applying for
a license to do business in the UK. However, that's
probably not going to happen. The U.S. has certainly
left a bad taste in the mouth's of the EU and World
Trade Organization, and allowing a U.S. operator to
come in and steal away business while not allowing
the same, would be downright heresy.
All things considered, Harrah's is probably going
to push hard for regulation in the U.S., and then
consider expanding into overseas markets. They've
already invested over $400,000 in efforts to drum up
support for online gambling regulation this year and
are assuredly registered as a lobby group in support
of Congressman Frank's current draft of legislation
now doing the rounds in Congress.
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