Land gambling mogul Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts has come out with an opposing view to that of Sheldon Adelson that online poker should be banned.
Speaking to a Las Vegas Review Journal reporter at a Wynn function this week, Wynn says that uncertainty in Congress makes him unsure of where online poker is going.
Wynn also discussed the new Adelson attack on online gambling through the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (see previous reports), observing that “….outlawing online poker is like the Volstead Act where they outlawed beer,” a reference to the lack of success in the banning of alcohol in the US in the ‘twenties.
He noted that the authorities can outlaw online gaming but “people are going to do it anyway.”
“I think it’s questionable whether Sheldon will be able to stop it, which is not to say he is wrong,” Wynn said. “I just think this sort of thing has a life of its own. I‘m neither a proponent nor opponent of it, I’m an observer of this process and the chairman of a publicly traded company that is required to pay attention to such things.”
That said, Wynn admitted that his company has teamed with Caesars Entertainment Corp. in the New Jersey internet gaming market and intends to “stay in the game”.
“I’m not the leader of this parade, “Wynn told the LVRJ. “The Caesar’s people are because they’ve got the World Series of Poker. I know Gary Loveman (chairman and CEO of Caesars) believes in this as strongly as Sheldon opposes it.”
However, Wynn believes that neither Adelson nor Loveman will make the final decision – “everybody is going to try to influence the outcome,” he predicts.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/steve-wynn-compares-effort-outlaw-online-poker-prohibition