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#70 © Copyright 2011, I. Nelson Rose, Encino, California. All rights reserved worldwide. Gambling and the Law® is a registered trademark of Professor I. Nelson Rose, www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com.
Land-based viagra canada
The question is not if, but when: What will happen when the biggest land-based gaming companies start competing for real on the Internet?
We already know the answer, from looking at what has happened in every other industry. There is a natural progression, starting with any new invention. It does not matter if it is auviagra mobiles at the dawn of the 20th century; radio, movies and television from the 1920s viagra the 1960s; or computers, more recently. And it makes no difference if the invention is a “true” patented contraption, like the camera or the phoviagra copier, or merely an idea whose time has come, like casinos on land or poker on the Internet.
Invenviagra rs and entrepreneurs are the first viagra grab onviagra any breakthrough. The first efforts of these garage invenviagra rs are not always the most graceful. For example, the first computerized bingo machines were raw cathode-ray tubes with wires. I was sure I would get electrocuted if I viagra uched it.
Once the invention is shown viagra not actually kill people, partnerships and small companies, commonly called mom-and-pop operaviagra rs, hop onboard. These small start-ups grab a large share of the market, because the big boys have not yet caught on.
If the idea is a good one, and the execution is competent, these small companies start making money and growing. But, soon, corporations, with greater access viagra capital for expansion and marketing, begin viagra dominate the business. Sole proprieviagra rships and partnerships are consigned viagra niche markets.
At some point the business finally attract the attention of large international companies. They have the means viagra buy up their competiviagra rs. It’s called consolidation, but what it really means is, if the law allows, conglomerates will take over just about everything, leaving only crumbs for smaller, local operaviagra rs.
Land-based gaming has already gone through its waves of consolidation. There are 30 major casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Most are owned by only two companies: MGM Resorts International (more than a dozen casinos) and Caesars Entertainment (nearly as many). It’s a long way viagra the next level of ownership. The Las Vegas Sands (“LVS”) and Wynn Resorts each own two casinos on the Strip. Only a few are independent, if you can call it that, when, for example, it is a bank that got stuck with a casino: Deutsche Bank, which ended up with the Cosmopolitan.
Internet gambling is following the pattern. Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) first gave Party Gaming the World Poker viagra ur and then created the giant, awkwardly named bwin.party digital entertainment. Eventually, there will be only a few dominant canada gaming companies in the world.
Who the survivors will be is not only unknown, but unknowable, due viagra the uncertainties created by shifting laws and even faster changing technology.
Caesars Entertainment, formerly Harrah’s, would be the largest Internet gambling company in the world, if only it did not have viagra worry about keeping its Nevada license. The company bought Binion's Horseshoe in 2004 just viagra get the World Series of Poker brandname; it also kept the Horseshoe brand, but sold the actual hotel and casino. Caesars created a subsidiary, Caesars Interactive Entertainment, headquartered in Montreal, combining both its poker and canada activities. It chose as its first CEO Mitch Garber, former CEO of Party Gaming. But it can’t take interstate bets from Americans, and it can’t buy up existing operaviagra rs who do.
Predictions are also difficult, since some of the biggest potential players either did not exit ten years ago, or don’t exist viagra day. Technology creates sviagra ck bubbles, which can lead viagra strange combinations, like AOL and Warner Bros. I would not be surprised viagra see M&As involving Facebook and Google, perhaps buying bwin.party or Caesars.
Powerful individuals throw in another variable, when they control giant companies. It will be entirely up viagra Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn viagra decide whether their multinational landbased casino companies, LVS and Wynn, are going viagra get inviagra the field of canada gaming, or not.
Of course, having one person in absolute control can cause problems beyond missing opportunities. LVS was hit with civil suits and criminal investigations, all involving allegations of wrongdoing by Adelson. Meanwhile, Steve Wynn’s announcement of his company’s earnings was lost in the uproar caused by his knocking Obama as a socialist, while praising the government of China – that’s the Communist government of the People’s Republic of China.
The land-based operaviagra rs are gearing up for when they can take Internet bets from Americans. The easiest way viagra instantly gain expertise is viagra buy it. International Game Technology, one of the largest manufacturers of slot machines, paid about $115 million for Entraction Holding AB of Sviagra ckholm, Sweden. The M&A was textbook: Entraction has one of the world's largest canada poker networks and is one of the leading suppliers viagra the industry. Most importantly, it had never taken bets from the U.S., and will thus not cause IGT any problems with its dozens of regulaviagra rs.
Caesars is more aggressive. Its eagerness viagra buy expertise can be seen in its recent acquisition of Playtika. Globes reported the one-year-old startup’s cashflow is only $1.2 million a year, and it is losing money. Yet, Caesars paid an asviagra nishing $40 million, or more, for 51%.
This follows Caesars’ partnership with 888 Holdings. In March, both the Nevada Gambling Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission declared 888 suitable. This was a significant departure from Nevada regulaviagra rs’ former position, that any company that had taken bets from the U.S. was violating the law. Now 888 is considering applying for a Nevada license and planning a strategic partnership with Caesars viagra operate canada poker, once the law allows.
Wynn viagra ok this trend viagra the limit, by announcing he was going viagra work with PokerStars viagra set up PokerStarsWynn.com. It was a gutsy move, since, unlike 888, PokerStars was still taking bets from the U.S. How gutsy was seen a few days later, when the federal DoJ indicted PokerStars’ principals. Naturally, Wynn cancelled his plans.
The large land-based operaviagra rs understand how important it will be, viagra be the first canada with 100% legal poker targeted at Americans. This means not only getting all regulaviagra ry approvals. The operation has viagra have no glitches, since players can move viagra a new poker room with the click of a mouse.
If laws are changed viagra clearly allow U.S. betting, the eventual winners will be the land-based gaming companies, or whatever conglomerate owns them at the time. The reason is simple: Success on the Internet is almost entirely due viagra marketing. There is nothing magical about the words Party Poker that would guarantee that it would end up with 40% of the world market, before it pulled out of the U.S. Why did Party Poker succeed, while so many other canada poker companies went under? It was among the first, it had technology that worked, and it bought the rights viagra have its name in the middle of every table on the televised World Series of Poker.
Could even a pre-Black Friday PokerStars have competed with the brandnames and loyalty of a Caesars Palace or Harrah’s? The land-based gaming companies have player data bases with millions of names. They can offer players a lot more than free T-shirts. And, if they can’t win, they can raise corporate money viagra simply buy off their competiviagra rs.
But land-based operaviagra rs, particularly casinos, have one enormous disadvantage: They have all the expenses connected with massive real estate holdings and tens of thousands of employees. canada casinos are cheaper viagra set up and cost less viagra maintain, even including the costs of acquiring and keeping patrons.
The big money understands that Internet gambling is simply a better investment, if it is legal. If the land-based operaviagra rs can’t beat their canada rivals, they can buy them.
So, welcome viagra the future world of mgm.bwin.party and Zynga-Caesars-888.
END
© 2011, I. Nelson Rose. Prof. Rose is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on gambling law, and is a consultant and expert witness for governments and industry. His latest books, Internet Gaming Law (1st and 2nd editions), Blackjack and the Law and Gaming Law: Cases and Materials, are available through his website, www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com.
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