FOR CASINO GAMBLING, INTERNET IS THE FUTURE, INDUSTRY EXECS SAY
SECAUCUS, N.J. — Internet casino gambling is legal in only a handful of states, but the industry is convinced it is the future of betting, even as some worry about cannibalizing physical casinos.
Speaking last Wednesday at the SBC Summit North America, a major gambling industry conference, industry executives acknowledged the difficulty they’ve had in expanding the legalization of online casino games.
Yet they remain certain that, like many other industries, the future of gambling is online.
“Once you get to millennials, people are comfortable basically running their entire life off their cellphone,” said Elizabeth Suever, a vice president with Bally’s Corporation. “This is where gaming is going.”
It’s just not getting there all that quickly.
Only seven U.S. states currently offer legal online casino games: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia. Nevada offers internet poker but not online casino games.
In contrast, 38 states including Illinois plus Washington, D.C., offer legal sports betting, the overwhelming majority of which is done online, mostly through cellphones.
When the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way in 2018 for any U.S. state to offer legal sports betting, such bets “took off like a rocket,” said Shawn Fluharty, a West Virginia legislator and president of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States.
“Many people thought i-gaming would follow suit,” he said. “That has not taken place.”
“It’s been a rough road,” agreed Brandt Iden, a vice president with Fanatics Betting & Gaming. “Igaming is paramount; this is the direction the industry needs to go to be successful, and this is where consumers want it to go.”
Last month, Deutsche Bank issued a research note saying it is likely a matter of “when, not if” internet gambling in Atlantic City overtakes revenue from physical casinos.
Cesar Fernandez, a senior director with FanDuel, said online casino games should prove increasingly attractive as federal post-pandemic aid dries up and states look for new revenue without raising taxes on their residents.
“Since 2018, FanDuel has paid $3.2 billion in taxes,” he said. “That’s a lot of teacher salaries, a lot of police officers and firefighters.”
The industry cites several challenges to wider approval of internet casino gambling, including fears of increasing gambling addiction by “putting a slot machine in people’s pocket,” Iden said, adding casino companies need to do a better job of publicizing player protections the online companies offer.
Then there is the ongoing debate in the industry over whether internet gambling cannibalizes physical casinos. Many in the industry have long said the two types of gambling complement each other.
But recently, some casino executives have said they believe online gambling is hurting the revenues of brick-and-mortar casinos. Rob Norton, president of Cordish Gaming, which owns physical casinos and internet gambling operations, has become one of the loudest voices raising the alarm that online gambling is hurting established physical casinos.
“We’re setting ourselves up for our own failure,” he said Wednesday.
Norton said that once online sports betting began in Maryland, in-person sports betting revenue in the company’s Maryland Live! casino declined by 65% “and has stayed there.”