Major Casino Companies Change Their Mind Over Online Gambling

Several top casino companies in the United States have done an u-turn when it comes to their stance on online casinos and poker sites, according to the latest United States gambling news. The move comes in sharp contrast to their viewpoints of past years, and has come as shock to the online gambling community.

Caesars Entertainment is just one of the major US casino companies that have viewed internet gambling as threat to their land-based casino businesses in recent years.

Caesars Entertainment has in the past had growing fears that their customers would be more inclined to play from home, than visit and stay at an expensive Vegas casino; even going as far as try to pursue legislation that made all online gambling illegal.

After the Department of Justice recently acknowledged that the Federal Wire Act only actually prohibits sports wagering, and faced with a rapid growth in European online gambling, the major companies, Caesars included, appear to have changed their tone.

Caesars Entertainment Executive Vice President, Jonathan Halkyard, speaking at an I-gaming conference this week, has stated that the companies change in stance has come to reflect that of American Gaming Association, after they recently asked congress to bring about legislation that would allow each state to license and regulate online poker themselves. Which in itself would be a major change to the American gambling laws.

In his address about the future of online poker sites in United States, Mr. Halkyard insisted that safeguards must be ensured to make certain that sites are fair, deal with payments securely, address problem gamblers and problem gambling in general, and make certain that they are accessible only to adults.

In a move that may seem like backtracking, Mr. Halkyard insisted that Caesars Entertainment has always insisted that there should be a federal solution to the online gambling issue.

This opinion though, could see Caesars making enemies, with other online gambling sites, state regulators and and poker advocates as California, Illinois, Iowa and New Jersey are already considering legalizing online gambling, and the ability to play online poker in United States.

Mr. Halkyard firmly believes that one federal law would be far simpler and easier to understand than a “patchwork” of separate state laws, which he feels could be confusing for gamblers and online poker sites alike. Mr. Halkyard ended his speech by insisting that Caesars Entertainment is firmly behind a federal effort to define online gambling.