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- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
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Inside Gaming: Industry Awaits Trump Stance on Online Gambling, Sports Betting
- Updated: December 23, 2016
This week’s installment of Inside Gaming begins with a report on the industry’s speculation about how it will be affected once president-elect Donald Trump takes office, tells of the new owner of an old Trump casino now looking to unload, and shares news regarding a Florida ruling affecting blackjack and other games.
Gambling Industry Ponders President Trump’s First Moves
The inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump is less than a month away. Earlier this week Wayne Parry of the Associated Press explored what might be in store for the country’s gambling industry once the first U.S. president ever to own a casino enters the White House.
In the past Trump owned three different casinos in Atlantic City. Both the Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal are now closed, while in 2011 he sold the Trump Marina, now operating under the new ownership as the Golden Nugget. Trump also owned another riverboat casino in Gary, Indiana, sold to Majestic Star Casino LLC in 2005.
In particular, those within the industry and other observers are most curious to learn how a Trump administration “will handle three major issues: internet gambling, sports betting and daily fantasy sports.”
Where Trump may land regarding internet gambling remains to be seen.
Prior to Trump’s victory in November, our Matthew Kredell opined that “The 2016 Presidential Election May Not Affect Online Poker.” There Kredell noted Las Vegas Sands Corporation chairman and billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s support of Trump, as well as now vice president-elect Mike Pence’s previous support of the Adelson-backed Restoration of America’s Wire Act that would prohibit online gambling, including online poker.
However Trump’s history as a casino owner and a previous statement in support of online gambling from 2011 perhaps might position him differently, should he weigh in on the issue. The AP additionally notes how Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, “formed a company… to explore the possibility of offering internet gambling in New Jersey before the state legalized it in 2013,” after which the Trumps never applied for a license.
“I have a lot of friends on both sides of this issue,” said Trump to the AP back in September regarding online gambling.
No one from Trump’s transition team offered any comment that could tip Trump’s hand on the issue. However the AP spoke with Steve Norton, an Indiana-based casino consultant and former casino executive who once worked with Trump back in the 1980s, who “predicted [Trump] will ultimately oppose nationwide approval of internet gambling, due in part to Adelson’s opposition, but said he does not think Trump would move to strip it …
