American Gaming Association Performs About Turn On Internet Gambling

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Friday, May 23rd, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

The American Gaming Association (AGA) is a gaming entertainment lobby group whose stated goal is to promote the industry by educating target audiences about the positive role commercial gaming plays in communities across the USA.

Until very recently the AGA’s support extended to the country’s iGaming industry, with the organization’s chief executive Geoff Freeman stating to Congress last year that the US government should “make no mistake: online gaming is here to stay. The government cannot put the Internet back in the bottle. As we saw with Blockbuster and the advent of online movies, industries must adapt to consumers or be left in their wake.”

Now, however, the AGA has performed a surprise about turn and declared iGaming could no longer be an issue the association could lead on because of major disagreements which exists between major casinos on the subject .

Disagreement among major casinos

The reason the American Gaming Association decided to backtrack on the igaming debate is the fact that while companies such as MGM and Caesars had continued to advocate online gambling legalization, Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson has been on a different page altogether and has made a promise to spend “whatever it takes” to ban online gaming in the country.

Consequently, over the past few months internal difference inside the Washington, D.C.-based trade organization have regularly spilled over into the public domain and threatened to fracture membership of the group. The writing was then on the wall for online gambling a couple of months ago when MGM Resorts Chairman Jim Murren told the Las Vegas Review Journal:

“I don’t want the AGA to find itself mired in a tremendous amount of controversy and infighting. I feel like the Internet has become too divisive a topic when there are so many other topics we want to put forward where we can all agree.”

Therefore, the AGA considers self preservation as a major reason for withdrawing its support for iGaming, and as AGA’s chief executive Geoff Freeman explained to The Wall Street Journal:

“One of the things I’ve learned in this industry is we are extraordinarily competent at shooting at one another. The snipers in this industry are of the highest quality, and if you let that be the focus, we’ll kill each other.”

PPA says news no great surprise

After the announcement was made, Poker Players Alliance executive director John Pappas said he was disappointed with the move as the AGA had previously stated very publicly that it supported internet poker regulation over prohibition. Nevertheless, Pappas said he was not surprised as the AGA had been spending less time lobbying for iGaming over the past couple of months.

Pappas continued by saying that he did not anticipate AGA’s U-turn to have a major impact on efforts to expand state level regulation, and pledged that the PPA would continue working to support those individuals or organizations in favor of iGaming regulation.

“What we’ll have is other organizations coming in to fill the void that can be laser focused on internet gaming, like the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection. Obviously, the PPA will always be there, and I think individual casino companies will continue playing a major role in lobbying and funding efforts to see legalized internet poker,” explained Pappas.

AGA’s previous arguments still hold

As a 19 year-old organization, the AGA remained pretty much neutral on the topic of online gambling until 2010 when it decided to lend its weight in favour of the argument. During that time, the AGA made numerous public announcements clearly stating that iGaming regulation was an infinitely better option than prohibition, and now the lobby group will likely find many of their self same arguments thrown back at them as it climbs onto the other side of the fence.

“Even if they’re taking a low profile on this issue again, I don’t think they can back away from the comments they’ve already made in support of regulation,” Pappas said.

AGA decision lacks courage

Despite its argument for self-preservation, the AGA’s response to the intense pressure placed upon it by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation owner Sheldon Adelson testifies as to the outsized influence he exerts on his fellow industry peers, including Caesars Entertainment, Boyd Gaming, MGM Resorts.

Even Steve Wynn, whose Wynn Resorts in February received approval to operate a New Jersey Internet wagering website, has since pledged his support to Adelson, demonstrating once more that no one seems willing to stand up to the wealthy casino magnate who has amassed an estimated $40 billion fortune.

Commenting on the influence Adelson wields, iGaming analyst Marco Valerio stated on his twitter account; “AGA’s iGaming retreat does little to impair state-by-state progress, but it’s also the LOSS of a powerful proponent of the overall cause. Adelson is seldom given respect by iGaming crowd, “oh he can’t do anything lol.” Yeah, well, looks to me like he clearly won this one.”