Besides several key members of Congress and the NFL, one of online poker’s biggest enemies has been land-based casinos. Now you’d think land-based casinos would welcome the idea of regulated internet poker and an end to the UIGEA. However, casinos have seen online poker as more of a threat than a friend in recent years.
But according to a New York Times article, land-based casinos are starting to warm up to the idea of regulated poker. The article is written by Barry Meier, and wrongly says that online gambling is illegal (but what outsider doesn’t believe this?) before finally making some good points.
Meier’s article documents how the American Gaming Association (comprised of casino giants such as MGM Grand, Wynn Resorts, and Harrah’s Entertainment) previously rejected the idea of online gambling. However, their tune changed after seeing Barney Frank’s bill, which calls for a ban on companies that ignored the UIGEA.
The Times article goes on to say that casinos such as Harrah’s have even invested money into lobbying efforts for online poker. As Meier documents, one of the biggest reasons for this boost is because poker in any form is not much of a threat to brick and mortar casinos. In fact, poker in casinos only makes up around 2% of all gambling. However, if the issue were on regulating all online gambling, then land-based casinos would likely be much more opposed to the idea.
So for now, online poker has another ally in brick and mortar casinos. But it’s unclear at this time whether the push from casinos will help since Barney Frank isn’t optimistic about the bill passing in 2010. The only thing poker players can do at this point is hope for the small chance that the bill does pass.
