PKR, Dragonfish, PokerStrategy: US e-poker needs Big Four support
US online poker will not be legalised at federal level without the backing of the 'Big Four' land-based casinos, the bosses of PKR, Dragonfish, PokerStrategy and Crown agreed this week, but were split on whether the US market will open within two years.
US ONLINE POKER will not be legalised at federal level without the backing of the ‘Big Four’ land-based casino groups, the bosses of PKR, Dragonfish, PokerStrategy.com and Crown Bingo agreed this week, but were split on whether the US market will open within two years.
Speaking in answer to an audience question at Any Questions?, the final session of eGaming Review‘s EGR Live conference and exhibition in London’s Old Billingsgate market this week, PKR chief executive Malcolm Graham said: “The big four – MGM, Harrah’s, Sands, Wynn – will need to put their weight behind any federal bill and act in concert. If they are not aligned, it will be a tough fight for Barney Frank.”
Dragonfish managing director Gabi Campos, Crown Bingo chief executive Joe Saumarez Smith and Dominik Kofert, chief executive of affiliate and community site PokerStrategy.com, all agreed, but the panel was split over whether the US online gaming market will open by 2012.
Campos, managing director of Dragonfish, which recently signed a Europe-facing B2B deal with land based casino giant Harrah’s new egaming arm, Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment (HIE), disagreed with the rest of the panel that a federal bill would definitely not pass within two years.
“President Obama is unpredictable as a politician. He may surprise everyone. [HIE chief executive] Mitch Garber has also been playing a lead role in changing the perceptions of land-based casinos about online gaming. I believe that once two or three of the big four casino groups form an alliance, the others will come on board quickly after that.”
Saumarez Smith said he believes that any bill passed would be protectionist in favour of land-based Nevada gaming interests, and that he doubts that it could be passed within two years.
“Federal legalisation will not happen in the first term of President Obama, as there are not that many votes in it,” he said. “A bill is more likely to be introduced later to fund second-term initiatives.”
However the Crown Bingo boss added that it was possible that the federal government would act before then if poker was legalised at intrastate level, as is being considered by the states of California and Florida.
“This could provide a spark to the federal government, who will see tax revenues disappearing and say ‘we would rather have that money coming to us than to you'”, he said.
PokerStrategy.com chief Kofert, however, said he was “pessimistic rather than optimistic” that the US would open within two years, saying European companies should focus on other markets.