If you were among those hoping that Steve Wynn would change his stance on online gambling… you will just have to keep hoping.
Having just come from Global Gaming Expo 2014 (G2E), things did not look probable that Wynn would change his mind.
According to Bluff, they felt Wynn’s position after his panel “could best be termed as unpromising for iGaming advocates, as he continues to move closer and closer to Sheldon Adelson’s stance on iGaming, and further away from the position of quasi neutrality he seemingly adopted earlier this year.”
Though the opportunity was available for Wynn to present his feelings about iGaming to his packed audience, he did not. In fact, he did not even approach the topic of iGaming in his panel until someone brought it up during the question and answer session.
“Specifically,” the report notes, “Wynn was asked for his thoughts on iGaming, and after a brief pause he simply stated “not much,” before pausing and answering the question more fully.
Wynn gave a list of reasons as to why he was highly concerned with iGaming, saying he “failed to see the business opportunity from online gambling.”
Wynn’s general position is the government will (over) tax the industry and the businesses won’t be able to make money.
And there are other concerns as well, the mogul suggests.
Wynn even “conjured up an image of a kid and their parent’s credit card and several other improbable scenarios. He also speculated what would happen if something did go wrong (a hacking for instance) saying he was fearful that regulators would use it as an opportunity to enact new, stricter regulations.”
Report author Steve Ruddock perceives that Wynn is “no longer content with opposing legalization, but pushing for a ban.”
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