Cantor Gaming, the offshoot of Wall Street bond giant Cantor Fitzgerald, has for some time been making a major push into Nevada-based sportsbetting. It runs sportsbooks at M Resort, Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tropicana Las Vegas and the newly opened Cosmopolitan.
Cantor pioneered the use of the eDeck, which allows hotel guests to place bets from anywhere within the complex, and is now seeking to join Leroy’s in offering mobile betting state-wide. Cantor Gaming was also the main force behind the (unsuccessful) push to open a movie box office future exchange. For one of the biggest brokers of US gov’t securities, the heavy push into regular betting might seem odd, but, in the words of one of Cantor’s own execs, “I don’t see any difference between Las Vegas Boulevard and Wall Street.”
For the record, we’re supportive of Cantor’s embrace of betting in all its forms, because we agree with that exec that the difference between Wall St. and the Vegas Strip is one of geography, nothing more. Yet Wall St.’s titans can freely accept ‘trades’ from UK residents with no fear that their next trip to Heathrow will result in them being dragged off a plane by Scotland Yard and forced to appear in the Old Bailey courthouse come the dawn. The same cannot be said for London-based online gaming license holders who dare to set foot on US soil. Hypocritical? You bet.
To further underscore the (until now) hypocrisy, Cantor Gaming is run by Lee Amaitis, a former bond trader and convicted cocaine dealer. As far as we’re concerned, if he’s served his time, he’s paid his due and nothing more need be said on the subject. But can you imagine the difficulty that someone with Amaitis’ record (but minus the Cantor pedigree) would have had trying to get one of Harry Reid’s online poker licenses? Yeah, so can we. Still, maybe Cantor’s people were visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve, and are now committed to telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Next year, we hope these same spirits remember to pay a call on certain US politicians…
