Card Player – Despite it being an election year in the Golden State, online gambling expert Chris Krafcik thinks it has the best chance, among other U.S. states, of getting something done in 2014 with regards to web poker. Krafcik is the Research Director (North America) for GamblingCompliance and for years has been monitoring developments there.
Right now, just Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have legal — and operational — online wagering. Others are considering it this year, but in many spots the chances appear low.
California is home to the nation’s top tribal casino industry, and Krafcik said that if they can figure out the nuts and bolts of how online poker would work for the industry there at large, something could advance rather rapidly, as opposed to bills stalling in the legislature, like they have in years past. Momentum does seem to be building.
Card Player had the chance to speak with Krafcik about California’s chances this year, as well as a handful of other topics related to online gaming in the United States.
Brian Pempus: First off, what impact do you think Sheldon Adelson’s anti-web gaming efforts could have on the state level?
Chris Krafcik: Las Vegas Sands is majority-owned by one of the world’s wealthiest men, which means that it can well afford to spend aggressively at the state level to advance its policy agenda. I think the company is likely to have the most success in the two states in which it operates casinos: Nevada and Pennsylvania. Lawmakers and regulators in those states will be inclined to consider the company’s position on Internet gambling because it has skin in the game. By “skin in the game,” I mean the company’s casinos and the jobs and tax revenue they generate. But in other states — say, California or Illinois — the company is less likely to have success chiefly because it does not have skin in the game. So, while the company is positioned to slow or stall the progression of Internet gambling legislation in Pennsylvania or the expansion of Internet gambling in Nevada, it will likely find that task more challenging in other states where it has no casino presence to leverage.
