CASINO FREE PLAY - Gambling

“none of my clients would try to put in Internet wagering because they would jeopardize their license,” said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association which is the main lobbyist organization for Nevada’s hotels. “It’s illegal for them to take bets outside Nevada.”

Nevada casinos won’t be muscling into online booking anytime soon. Nevada race books did just receive approval to accept bets outside the state for the first time. However, this is just phone wagering. They won’t be joining 17 other states that permit online race betting. Nevada also is one of only five states where Internet gambling is outlawed, although no individual bettors have been prosecuted for betting online.

The MGM Mirage, which owns a number of major hotels in Las Vegas including Bellagio, Treasure Island and New York New York, has been the most aggressive pushing for online betting. MGM Mirage chairman Terry Lanni said”The fact is that millions of U.S. citizens currently participate in on-line gaming in an unregulated environment. We believe that a more sound and realistic public policy would be to regulate the activity and hold operators to the highest standards of probity and integrity.”

If the U.S. wises up and decides to regulate and tax online gambling, then the MGM Mirage could once again become a player on the Internet. However, the guy sitting in front of his private computer drinking a Budweiser and making an online wager on the Raptors isn’t necessarily the same customer who flies to Vegas. covers.com source

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