The online poker debate never ceases in America as online poker activities aggressively push for the legalization of the game and anti online poker activists keep insisting that it is bad for America.
This week over 200 top executives gathered together at the iGaming North America 2014 conference in Planet Hollywood. Most of them were pro online gambling and put up a strong front on how it is better to regulate and monitor online gambling websites instead of prohibiting online gambling and thereby opening up the country for illegal gambling activities.
Right at the forefront were Ultimate Poker’s CEO Tobin Prior and chairman Tom Breitling who brought out the fact that online gambling companies helped to create new jobs for the state and also brought into significant amount of revenue for the state.
Ultimate Poker was the first online poker website to launch in Las Vegas last year. While the company has not achieved its initial estimates it has not done too bad. Since the launch, Ultimate Poker has dealt over 27 million virtual hands of poker and organized over 200,000 online tournaments.
Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have all legalized online poker and there are another 10 states who are also in line to legalize online poker. However, one of the main opponents of online poker comes from the brick and mortar casinos, led primarily by Las Vegas Sands corporate chairman Sheldon Adelson.
Many believe that Sheldon Adelson and other brick and mortar casino owners are against the legalization of online gambling because it will eat into their profits and steal a number of their customers. However, Prior addressed this issue by saying
Our online games are far better protected than those in a land-based environment. And they allow each player to set his or her own limits. We’re certainly not trying to destroy brick-and-mortar casinos. That would be insane. … From the outset, we always saw our business model as bricks and clicks.
The evening was highlighted by a 45 minute debate which took place between Las Vegas Sands Corp. Vice President of Government Affairs Andy Abboud and Caesars Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch Garber.
Abboud was clear on his stance saying that a large portion of the American population was against the legalization of online gambling and he wanted the restoration of the Federal Wire act which banned online wagering. Garber countered well by drawing a clear distinction into what online gambling companies had to offer and how regulation instead of prohibition was the answer to online gambling.
