One US-based casino business has bucked the trend that is present amongst their peers in relation to US online gambling. Las Vegas Sands president Michael Leven risks being forced to play with the un-cool kids over in Vegas after admitting to the Wall Street Journal that online gambling’s in the US will be on a state-by-state basis. Why sit on the other side of the fence though?
LVS is currently the “biggest of the bigs” in that they’re the largest US-based casino business firm in the casino’s fastest growing market, Asia. Deriving a large amount of their business from this market means that they have less reliance on the tortoise-like state of the US market.
We’ve been saying for some time that any regulated online gambling in the USA will be on a state-by-state basis and not the federal tinder keg that the casino business companies are pushing. It wont be for the want of trying and if there was an award for forming the same lobbying group a few times over, then the US casino businesses would be getting a Stanley Cup sized prize.
Sadly for them, however much lobbying they do for the next few months the chances of some short term federal legislation coming down the legislative lane is unlikely. Anyone that tells you this has a problem with the analytical part of their brain or is intentionally selling scenarios that will boost their stocks.
The point made by Leven also shows that European public online gaming industry companies have little chance of entering the US anytime soon. As we’ve shown repeatedly, they’re trapped by their own structures and have to rely on the European market for their thrills. Asia is completely cut off and it will be something that means private firms will eventually become totally dominant on a global basis with Europe just a small part of their operations.
