The moment of truth has arrived in New Jersey.
Earlier today, online gambling officially commences in the Garden State, following a five day trial period that, while revealing glitches in the system, passed the most critical tests designed to expose any significant flaws in the online gambling infrastructure.
“Technology exists to make sure that you know who [the online gambler] is,” says Jim Murren, CEO of MGM Resorts International . “Whether they’re of age, whether they already have addictive behavior, whether they’re in a jurisdiction in which it’s legal to gamble. Our company wants to be the kind of company that regulates this, that provides safeguards for the right type of people that can gamble. I think it’s a great source of tax revenue for states—and I think we should do it.”
Gary Loveman, CEO of Caesars Entertainment, is also optimistic, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
“Online poker is a very important business for my company,” Loveman says. “I think [it’s] a very engaging service that the United States ought to be in the business of allowing its citizens to do, so we’ve been petitioning to see that happen. And at the federal level, unfortunately, it’s not yet happened.”
Of course, not all casino heavyweights see the value in online gambling.
“I have been bombarded by my colleagues about the Internet,” says Steve Wynn, CEO of of Wynn Resorts. “Like Mt. Everest, it looms on the horizon, blotting out the sun. I fail to see the business opportunity myself. So what I do is, I hook up with my colleagues: I smother my own confusion and prejudice and benefit from it. That’s the only rational thing to do.”
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