Analyst: only big companies will profit
Sheldon Adelson, head of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and an outspoken opponent of online gaming, has an ally in Reno gaming executive John Farahi.
Farahi is CEO of Monarch Casino & Resort Inc., owner of the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa. Though he has a license in hand to operate online poker in Nevada, he will not use it, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you do it,” Farahi said. “We used to be for it, but we found out poker is being used as a tool to jar the door open to wide-open online internet gaming.”
Farahi said his opposition is a matter of “social responsibility.” He cited a December 2013 report in the New York Times on troubles in Italy, which has seen a mad proliferation of gambling in stores, malls and elsewhere.
“How do you control a person who comes home from work and blows the paycheck?” Farahi said. “Or someone not 21 years old? Here, we throw them out. Are parents going to become cops at home? There’s got to be some rules.”
In 2013, the Nevada legislature approved legal online poker and authorized the governor to sign interstate online agreements. Two other states, New Jersey and Delaware, have also legalized internet gaming. In February, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed the first interstate deal.
Some casino operators think online is a pivotal part of the industry’s future, but also draw lines against too much infiltration. “We think there’s an upside for us,” said Bill Hughes, spokesman for the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino, which plans to offer online poker at the company’s properties in Reno, Sparks, and Wendover near the border of Utah. “But we’re opposed to full online gaming from a casino standpoint. In Reno, people are used to significant brick-and-mortar properties here.”
Gaming analyst Ken Adams says online gaming ultimately will benefit only the biggest players, like Caesars and MGM Resorts International.
“Caesars has 40 million people in its database. Who’s going to compete against that?” Adams said. “So what I see is lots of small casinos will oppose online gaming. It doesn’t make any real financial sense for them. Every dollar spent online is a dollar not spent in a casino.”
Farahi said he was interested enough to “begin to talk” with interactive software providers. “But when we saw this turning into not just a skills game, which poker is, but open gaming, we said this is not right,” he told the Gazette-Journal. “If it happens, it will hurt Nevada the most.”
Farahi says the U.S. Congress should ban online gaming and end the matter there.
