Benefits and elements of a possible bill on online poker:
- Generate $2 billion in annual tax revenue.
- Create 10,000 high-tech jobs.
- Land based gaming companies most likely to received favored status to launch online poker rooms in the new environment include Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands. Other companies would have access, but possibly delayed or other barriers to entry.
The main source for the CardPlayer article indicated that that “the chances of a poker bill happening in 2010 are 50-50 between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Under that schedule, U.S. gaming companies could offer real money poker by January 2013.In the absence of 2011 federal legislation, the states who have been working on their own individual schedules and agenda, such as California and New Jersey, could push forward their state based initiatives in their effort to see additional tax revenue in the wake of significant deficits. Finally, most pundits accept that the online poker issue is a challenging one to address during an election year, pushing any missed action in 2011 all the way to 2013 or later.
