News

Wednesday, 30 March 2011 01:12

With Nevada joining the list of states angling for legalized intrastate online gambling, Harrah's have interestingly come out in direct opposition to the state's latest bill.

At first glance it may seem strange that the casino giant Harrah's, who have recently re-branded as Caesars Entertainment would oppose Nevada's attempt to legalize intrastate online gambling. This is especially as they have spent around $4.2 million so far in lobbying for the legalization of online gambling at the Federal level. After all, the world's largest and most influential gaming enterprise has systematically been gearing up for the day when the United States allows their citizens to use the Internet for gambling at online casinos and dedicated poker rooms. They have been doing this by setting up various portals through a collection of subsidiary companies and overseas partners.

However, it is not online gambling per se that Harrah's is opposed to, but specifically intrastate gambling that can be carried out legally online, or that which is only allowable for residents inside the state, in this case, Nevada. The company feels that individual states bringing in their own laws on Internet gambling could have an adverse effect on the larger picture of getting the country as a whole to accept and legislate for online gambling.

Harrah's have already been active in New Jersey where their influence may have been enough to sway Governor Christie to veto the bill which would have legalized online gambling in that state. Certainly they have been spending a lot of their political budget on lobbying to prevent individual states from bringing in their own laws in this matter. They may yet be instrumental in keeping Nevada from getting in the way of their main goal of getting the Federal gambling bill passed all the way into law.

Currently there is a bill that is aiming to bring legal online gambling to the United States which is being pushed by three highly experienced politicians in this area. Senior Senators John Campbell, Harry Reid and Barney Frank have put their weight behind this one and so far there seems little in the way of opposition. This is in stark contrast to the problems both Frank and Reid had with similar bills last year. Harrah's is fully behind it too and with the chance of recouping billions of dollars that are currently flowing out of the country into the coffers of offshore companies that are not paying tax, they are confident of getting this one through and into the statute books.