For many in the poker community (and especially the online side), the threats that Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz’s “Restoration of America’s Wire Act” (RAWA) bring to the table have been enumerated many times. Now it has been proposed that not only would RAWA ban online gaming and poker on the federal level in the United States, it would also destroy the burgeoning mobile sports betting industry in Las Vegas.
According to noted gaming journalist Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Journal-Review, Chaffetz’s bill that is currently sitting in committee in the U. S. House of Representatives is being interpreted by many as having unintended consequences in an area that it wasn’t meant to affect. Betting through the Vegas sports books via mobile phone has been gaining ground over the past couple of years, with even Chaffetz’s benefactor (and potential writer of RAWA) Sheldon Adelson’s casinos taking part in the activity. If the Chaffetz bill were to pass, however, it is thought that it would shut down the mobile sports betting industry in its tracks.
“While we don’t think this is the intent of the bill, we are concerned it could be an unintended consequence,” Stutz quotes William Hill Chief Executive Officer Joe Asher, whose company handles the mobile operations for several Las Vegas casinos, as saying. “There are thousands of Nevadans who bet sports on their mobile phone today in a highly regulated and appropriate fashion. The idea that we would take away our customers’ ability to bet on their mobile phones, one of the key growth areas in the business, doesn’t make sense.”
The potential for such an occurrence arose from research done by Las Vegas gaming attorney Greg Gemignani, who specializes in Internet gaming law for the Las Vegas offices of the law firm Dickinson Wright. Through Gemignani’s analysis, mobile betting in Nevada sometimes uses (or “pings”) transmission towers that are located in Arizona, California or Utah to transmit their information because of the terrain of Nevada and usage reasons. In addition to the usage of mobile phones, some of the casinos in Nevada use private internet networks that utilizes servers to power some of their gaming that are not located inside the state. Under RAWA, these actions would be prohibited because, whether the initial wager and closing action originate and finish in Nevada or not, the action was transmitted over internet connections or mobile communications.
Operators in Nevada are looking at this latest analysis with a bit of trepidation. Data from Stutz’s research shows that sports books in Nevada raked in a record $3.9 billion in total wagers in 2014, an increase of 7.7% versus 2013. While the Nevada Gaming Control Board doesn’t break down the statistics regarding live versus mobile wagering, Stutz points out that other analysts estimate that mobile gaming could account for as much as 30% of the total action wagered last year, which would be over $1 billion of the total “win” rate.
This is yet another battle line being drawn in the Las Vegas desert regarding gaming, be it live or online. Adelson, who has vowed to ban online gaming on the federal level, has only lukewarm support from Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn in those efforts. Pretty much every other casino operator and company in Nevada – including Caesars Entertainment, Boyd Gaming and MGM Resorts – stand in opposition to Adelson’s opinion, looking to utilize online gaming as yet another revenue stream for the gaming industry to invest in and increase their business.
Stutz reports that Adelson’s company, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation (which Adelson has used to push his anti-gaming and poker agenda), seems to be a bit unprepared to respond to their leader’s drive regarding online gaming and poker and its potential repercussions on their casinos – the Venetian and Palazzo – business. Stutz repeatedly reached out to LVSC officials for a comment regarding this development and was rebuffed; the company that operates the LVSC mobile platforms, CG Technology, also declined to comment regarding the possibilities of being shut down due to their employer’s efforts to ban online gaming and poker.
