\nBy CHRIS SIEROTY
\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
\n\tWynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman Steve Wynn said Monday he\u2019s undecided whether New Jersey\u2019s decision to legalize online gaming will have a major impact on efforts in Congress to pass any federal legislation legalizing online poker.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m not sure as I stand here where online gaming is going,\u201d Wynn said. \u201cWithin the state of New Jersey it\u2019s legal. Its status in America is much in doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWynn said Sheldon Adelson\u2019s point that there is a lack of control with online gaming \u201cresonates with a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCiting moral concerns, Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., created a group, the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, to push for legislation to ban online gaming in the United States.<\/p>\n
\tThe group also wants the FBI to study law-enforcement related issues. Adelson\u2019s effort would also ban online gaming already underway in Nevada and Delaware.<\/p>\n
\tNew Jersey begins taking bets today. Other states are considering similar measures that would introduce online gaming,<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOn the other hand, playing poker is America, and outlawing poker is like the Volstead Act where they outlawed beer,\u201d Wynn told reporters in the Wynn Las Vegas atrium following the unveiling of two floral sculptures designed by Preston Bailey.<\/p>\n
\tWynn said you can outlaw online gaming but \u201cpeople are going to do it anyway.\u201d A recent survey by H2 Gambling Capital found illegal online gambling generated $2.6 billion last year in the United States.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI think it\u2019s questionable whether Sheldon will be able to stop it, which is not to say he is wrong,\u201d Wynn said. \u201cI just think this sort of thing has a life of its own. I\u2018m neither a proponent nor opponent of it. I\u2019m an observer of this process and the chairman of a publicly traded company that is required to pay attention to such things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWynn said his Las Vegas-based gaming company has \u201cput their toes in the water\u201d when it comes to Internet gaming by teaming with Caesars Entertainment Corp. in New Jersey. He said his company will \u201cstay in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m not the leader of this parade, \u201cWynn said. \u201cThe Harrah\u2019s \u2026 Caesar\u2019s people are because they\u2019ve got the World Series of Poker. I know Gary Loveman (chairman and CEO of Caesars) believes in this as strongly as Sheldon opposes it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWynn believes that neither Sheldon Adelson nor Gary Loveman will make the final decision on the legality of online gaming, but \u201ceverybody is going to try to influence the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAlthough he understood the interest in online gaming, Wynn said his company\u2019s focus is on proceeding with building a $1.5 billion resort in Everett, Mass.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019ll be in Boston,\u201d Wynn said. \u201cThat process is underway. We\u2019ll see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWynn\u2019s Everett proposal is the only project in the eastern part of the state to be approved by voters. Voters in Milford and East Boston recently rejected rival proposals. MGM Resorts International\u2019s Springfield, Mass., plan is alone in the western part of the state.<\/p>\n
\tBut Wynn has a couple of weeks to find out if it has passed a state background check. The extensive process derailed Caesars Entertainment\u2019s deal with Suffolk Downs in East Boston; concerns were raised over a licensing deal with a separate company that was partly owned by a businessman with alleged Russian mob ties.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt takes a partnership with a very savvy, sophisticated government,\u201d Wynn said. \u201cYou can\u2019t do it without both parties being on the same page. So \u2026 we are in Massachusetts to help educate everybody and show them what it takes to build a place like (Wynn Las Vegas).<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By CHRIS SIEROTY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman Steve Wynn said Monday he\u2019s undecided whether New Jersey\u2019s decision to legalize online gaming will have a major impact on efforts in Congress to pass any federal legislation legalizing online…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}