Online Sportsbooks from Vegas?

January 13, 2009

The land based casino industry has long been against the legalization of online gambling because they felt that it would take money away from them. Whether this is true or not, and for the record it seems like it is, Vegas is now supporting the idea of online gambling and many are wondering what gives.

The land based casino industry has always maintained that without online gambling that the land based ones would have done better especially during the recession. This is in part true. There are those that would have continued to go to the casinos if there had not been a cheaper and more convenient option available to them. There are those that would have simply stopped gambling, so the online gambling industry isn�t responsible for them losing all of their money � but they are responsible for some of it.

However, now Las Vegas is thinking that perhaps they want a piece of the pie instead. They are wondering what would happen if they embraced online gambling instead of fighting it, and put their sportsbooks online instead. They could easily make up for a lot of the revenue that they have been losing by those that cannot make it to the casino, and with so many sportsbooks and online casinos having pulled out of the market there is a niche that needs to be filled for US players.

However, the real question is what the US Department of Justice might have to say about Vegas participating in online gambling. If the UIGEA is overturned and online gambling is legal again, then it is a no-brainer and Vegas would be in business. Otherwise, it is still a grim picture.

 

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