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 The New York Times released an article on Sunday that brought to light the fact that many land-based casinos are now open to the idea of legalized online gambling. The article written by Barry Meier contained a number of inaccuracies about the legal status of online gambling but it did provide a number of valuable examples of the land-based casinos chance in stance.
Meier's article points out that as recently as 2009, the American Gaming Association (AGA) was in fierce opposition to the idea of a legalized and regulated online gaming industry. This spring however the AGA changed its stance after the markup of HR 2267 the Internet Gambling, Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. During the bill's hearing an amendment was added to include a ban on those that had violated the UIGEA from being active in the online gaming market in the U.S. as a concession to the land-based casino industry. With this amendment added the AGA reversed its stance and declared its support of a regulated industry.
The article states that the likely reason for the change of heart is the fact that online poker is the main driver behind regulatory actions. Meier pointed out that poker only amounts to about 2% of the activity at land-based casinos and that if regulations were to be made exclusively for online poker wouldn't be likely to serve as much of a threat to the industry.
Meier then points out that there is plenty of revenue to be made by legalizing online poker. The article says that a recent study done by Poker Analytics estimates that PokerStars alone generates over $1 billion annually and that other U.S. facing operations generate as much as $5 billion annually. Since many of these operators could be excluded as the current legislation is written that leaves plenty of room for land-based casinos to launch online gambling sites of their own.
HR 2267 is currently on life support as Frank has stated he is "not optimistic" about the bill passing before a new congress is seated. Even if the bill is passed out of the House in time there is no companion bill ready for vote in the Senate and if the legislation does not move through congress during the "lame duck" session the bill will die when the new Congress is seated in January.
While it is depressing to think that the bill will not be given a chance to pass into law it is definitely a good sign that such legislation is garnering the attention of major news sources and that land-based casinos are finally softening their stance. With any luck next year will be the one that we finally see real changes being made.
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