Dec
11th

Smaller Nevada Casinos skeptical of Online Gambling

A few small casinos in Reno and rural parts of Nevada are worried that they will fall into greater financial distress if online gambling becomes legal while the larger corporately owned Las Vegas casinos who are likely to secure the limited licenses, will stand to cash in. It is feared that legalization of Internet poker will lead to more players gambling online and therefore stealing away customers.

Ryan Sheltra, general manager of the Bonanza Casino in Reno said that it would hurt every brick-and-mortar casino in the state and that casinos in Washoe Country have been through “an absolute bloodbath” with revenues that have declined in 37 of the past 39 months

John Farahi, co-chairman and CEO of the Monarch Casino Resort Inc., the owners of the Atlantis in Reno, revealed that gambling revenue has declined by 29 percent in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area since 2000 and that after producing $1 billion in revenue a decade ago it now produces $700 million.

This follows the pushing efforts by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev last week to allow online poker games but to restrict initial licenses to casinos and racetrack operators that have been in business for not less than 5 years.

Senior vice president and chief financial officer for Caesars, Jonathan Halkyard, revealed that although he sees support in Congress for legalizing online poker, he does not see support for Internet gaming. He added that a large illegal online poker business already exists in the United States.

Halkyard, who company was called Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. until recently, stated that he thinks that legalizing online poker makes a lot of sense. His company presently owns or manages 52 casinos in 12 U.S. states as well as in six other countries with revenue of $8.9 billion in 2009.

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