U.S. gambling chiefs re-emphasise position on internet gambling

Some of the most powerful gambling executives in America took part in this year’s American Gaming Association visit to Washington DC’s rarified political atmosphere last week, although their message remained largely unchanged as far as online gambling legalisation is concerned – give us federal regulation, and only for online poker.

Travelling to Washington to meet and greet with politicians were IGT‘s Patti Hart; Aristocrat CEO Jamie Odell; GM’s boss Jim Murren; Penn National chief Tim Walton; and Gary Loveman, head man at Caesars Entertainment, along with bankers Drew Goldman, managing director of Deutsche Bank; and investment banker Bill Newby.

In his pre-visit briefing, new AGA boss Geoff Freeman said that the executives’ hymn sheets would include “…asking Congress to address Internet gambling by passing a federal ban on Internet casino games of chance while at the same time creating federal guidelines for online poker that establish minimum regulatory standards, protect consumers and exclude bad actors. Such legislation also should provide Native American tribes with an appropriate regulatory framework to participate.”

The reference to “bad actors” points to the AGA’s desired exclusion from a legalised US online gambling market of companies that provided internet gambling services to US punters post-UIGEA. It has been a recurring theme in submissions by the Association and its members and is widely seen as an attempt to keep potentially threatening competition out of any legalised US market.

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