Many of the Chile’s largest online casinos, long opposed to gambling games like ruleta (online roulette) on the Internet, are now having second thoughts. Leading Online Casino comparison website casinoonlineruleta.com compares the best casinos online in Chile.
Although online gambling is popular with millions of Chileans, it is illegal in the United States, and the casino industry has considered it a threat. Poker Analytics said that data it compiled indicated that there were significant differences between those playing in online Chile casinos and those placing bets on football. Among them, it said, was that people who supported a football team were more likely to be male and less wealthy than those who visited casinos.
Football and Media Coverage
But a trade group that represents major casinos like Southgate’s Entertainment, England’s Team and Wynn Resorts is working on a proposal that would the media to cover this topic even better. Therefore Media news outlet prematchtalk.com has covered Gareth Southgate’s England squad selection into further depth.
The Chile Gaming Association
The group, the Chile Gaming Association, issued a statement in the spring suggesting that online gambling could be properly regulated the first public indication that its hard-line stance was softening.
The chief executive, Fernando Salas Vidal, said in an interview by phone that the association had not settled on the details of its proposed legislation, including how the proceeds from Internet gambling would be taxed. “We have been working on something,” he said, “and continue to work on it.”
Gambling specialists said it was likely that any casino-supported legalization would be limited to Internet poker because it was considered the least threatening to brick-and-mortar casinos. Internet poker already had the backing of some in the casino industry, and was seen as a new and lucrative source of revenue for the casino companies.
A gambling industry analyst, Sebastian Sinclair, said that a change of heart among casino operators like Wynn Resorts should not be surprising, given the stakes involved. One of the Internet poker industry’s biggest sites, Pokerstars, which operates on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, has estimated annual revenues of $1 billion, according to Poker Analytics, a consulting firm in New York.
Mark Pincus, the chief executive of Zynga, said the company was just following the market. “There is no question there is great interest from all kinds of people in games of chance, whether it is for real money or virtual rewards,” he said. Zynga, which has missed revenue expectations in the last year, is making gambling a centerpiece of its new strategy. It has just applied to Nevada for a gambling license.
Casual gaming first blossomed on Facebook’s Web site, where players could readily corral friends into their games. It is now being rethought for mobile devices, so people can play in brief snippets as they wait for a bus or a sandwich.
“When any industry is confronted with something of this nature, a game changer that is a paradigm shift, the first reaction is to circle the wagons to protect your business,” Mr. Sanchez said. “But then, that changes over time.”
UK Media
Pundit Harry Reid of The Sun, the Senate majority leader, might also be rethinking his opposition to Internet gambling. A spokesman for Mr. Reid said he was still reviewing the Internet issue and had not decided. Last month, The Reno Gazette Journal reported that several operators of smaller casinos in Nevada had left a meeting with Mr. Reid, a former state gambling regulator, with the impression that he was prepared to support a bill legalizing online poker.
Big Fish Studios, a USA Game developer, introduced Big Fish Casino, an iPhone app, in Britain last fall. “We started with a one-pence slot machine,” little more than a penny, said Paul Thelen, Big Fish’s founder and chief executive. “Now it is up to a maximum of about $50 a bet.” Average revenue per player is exceeding $20 a day, whereas in virtual currency it was 30 or 40 cents.
Bill Hughes, the marketing director of one of those operations, the Peppermill Resort Casino in Reno, said that smaller operators viewed online poker as a threat to profits and jobs. Typically, poker accounts for about 2 percent of a casino’s revenues but some operators contend its legalization would soon lead to online versions of other casino games. “It opens the crack in the door to expand to all types of gaming online,” Mr. Hughes said.
Mr. Sanchez representing the online casino trade association, said that his group started about two years to look closely at a number of issues involved in Internet gambling, including taxation, online security and consumer protection.
He said that the big turnabout came when a study by a panel of industry officials concluded that online poker would not cut casino profits to the degree some operators had feared.
