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Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Newspaper Group

December 2, 2005

HEADLINE:
Online Casino Poker Leads the Way

Body:
Poker has been the leading catalysts in the online casino revolution. This year, online casino poker topped $2.4 billion in revenues, accounting for 20% of the overall revenues generated by online gambling worldwide. Experts estimate that by the year 2010, online poker will account for 27% of the profits generated by the online gambling market, reaching a whopping $6.7 billion. If you take into account that last year Las Vegas´ Strip casinos managed to pull in a combined $5.3 billion, it becomes apparent why many experts believe that online casinos are set to outshine all other forms of casino gambling, including sports gambling.

What are casino operators in Vegas are planning as a response to online casino sites gradually taking over the industry? If you happen to catch 60 Minutes that was aired a couple of weeks ago, you would have noticed a prominent CEO from one of Las Vegas´ most prominent casinos saying that she is all for regulating the online casino business. The news made a lot of waves, considering that you would not expect someone from the opposite side of the fence to advocate online gambling.

As weird as it sounds, regulating the online casino industry makes a lot of sense for land based casino operators. As it stands now, land based casino operators cannot compete with online casinos since they are prohibited by law to provide online gambling services to people who reside in the US. However, if the online casino industry is to be regulated, it will level the playing field allowing them to run their own online casino site, thus having an equal shot at a piece of the pie.

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