Roy Cooke's Recent Column in CP: Government and Our Game — the Heat is

[Scotty O]

I thought this was a great article about the recent happening in the poker, gambling and the gaming industry. I good read for everyone.

THE HEAT IS ON

[whiskeytown]

great article - thanks for posting.

RB

[Pirc Defense]

I wonder how much Party spends on lobbying efforts? It can't be as much as the brick and mortar casinos can bring to the table. The highest bidder will win out in this case.

[Blarg]

Interesting article. I don't know think that the big B&M casinos would go along with separating poker out, because they'd do anything they could to keep online betting illegal or difficult. But the California poker clubs probably would. And some of the online casinos might. The big casinos have all the money, though. Their power dwarfs anyone else's, and they've had politicians in their pockets for half a century.

[Cubswin]

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, began his fight to ban Internet "gambling" back in 1999.

OK.... maybe im knitpicking here but I cant take a guy serious who makes such god awful errors such as this.

Kyl first introduced legislation way back in 1995 with S1495, the Crime Prevention Act of 1995. Between 1995 and 1999 there were numerous other pieces of legislation introduced suchs as HR2380 Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997, HR4427 Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1998, S474 Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997, and HR4350 Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1998.

Sorry if i sound PMSy... my social science research backround makes it tough to deal with such errors. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

cubs

[TobDog]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry if i sound PMSy

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you just pissed that its gonna get cold there soon and were out here in Cali(and Vegas) enjoying the sun?

[Punker]

I suspect the B&M casinos would love to make online legal so that they could get a piece of the action.

[Cubswin]

I don't know think that the big B&M casinos would go along with separating poker out, because they'd do anything they could to keep online betting illegal or difficult.

This is big big misconception about the B&M gaming industry. B&M casinos are not anti-internet gambling. In fact, some of the bigger casinos have actually dabbled into the internet arena, albeit with poor results. B&M casinos take the line that it should be up to each individual state to decide the law as far as gaming is concerned. B&M casinos do not see internet casinos as competitors and this is especially true now that they have starting offering other forms entertainment that don’t involve plopping coins into a slot. The anti-internet gambling movement in this country, for the most part, comes from right-wing holy rollers.

[Blarg]

I don't see B&M casinos as willing to let the market do its thing as you do. Vegas-based casinos have been enormous contributors to efforts to stop the spread of casinos in California. They still love to kick blackjack players out if they suspect them of counting -- every dollar lost is real to companies, and they don't give it up lightly. Going to Vegas is a time-consuming and very expensive way to gamble compared to simply going online. If online gambling became clearly legal and easy to access across the nation, the Vegas casinos would lose many potential customers. Not all customers, because Vegas is still a fun destination, but many gamblers both in and out of Nevada would stay home if they felt it were safe to do so.

Unless the big traditional casinos are running online gambling, which is politically extremely sensitive for them right now, they'll try to stop it. There is no such thing as an acceptable level of competition in business. Especially when places like Party are making hundreds of millions a day. They want those guys out of the gambling profit pipeline.

[Cubswin]

The following are some reasons why B&Ms are not speaking out against online casinos:

1) Many B&M casinos are trying to start-up internet casinos themselves. MGM Grand, Station Association and Sun International are a few of the many B&M establishments who have already jumped into the Internet waters. “Most major US casinos want to leverage the Web just as traditional click-and-motor pioneers did….there are cross-marketing opportunities meant to drive physical visitation to casinos.” (Gareiss and Soat, 2002 link to a very good article)

2) Most experts in the gaming field believe that online casinos will not encroach on B&M casinos. This argument is supported by continued growth in both the land-based and internet sectors of gaming seen over the last 10 years. Additionally, some believe internet casinos will help create more land-based casino patrons. Think about those people with little B&M casino experience; the type of people who would be afraid to sit down at a table game. If these people were exposed to the rules and procedures of games in the privacy of their own home they might be more comfortable taking the plunge and have a seat at a B&M table game. Think about the growth of online poker of the past 3 years. Has this growth helped or hurt B&M poker operations? Survey the patrons in your local poker room next time and you will find that a large portion received their first serious exposure to poker through an online poker room. B&Ms and internet casinos should not be seen as competitors. Their relationship is much more symbiotic then adversarial.

You brought up the point that many vegas casinos opposed California casino expansion. I hope you understand why there would be competition between B&M casinos but not necessarily between B&M and internet casinos.

3) What argument would B&M casinos have against internet casinos that would not damn their own position on gaming? B&M can't speak out against internet gambling on moral grounds like many internet gambling opponents have. The also can't speak out against internet casinos on the grounds that they are unregulated. In the early days B&M casinos were also unregulated. Of course, if B&M casinos decided to play the unregulated card the internet casinos would simply say, “regulate us”.

I hope this explains things a little.

Regards
cubs