It would appear that the view many politicians and gambling stakeholders in the US have had of the online gambling industry, and the legitimacy of online gambling laws in the US, is changing.

Outside of the New Jersey bill that is due to be decided on in the coming days, the recent partnership between Caesars Entertainment and Fordart Ltd. and Cassava Enterprises Ltd., subsidiaries of 888 Holdings, is an indication that the major players and stakeholders in the gambling arena in the US are finally looking at online gambling in a positive light. The partnership benefits for Caesars at this stage would be the expansion of their World Series of Poker brand, and allowing them to operate within the UK market.

With the partnership having been approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, it is a clear indicator that the face of online gambling in the US is about to undergo a makeover. The comment by one of the members of the Gaming Control Board that the UIGEA is vague and that it was applied in haste gives further weight to the view that the outlook for online gambling in the US for the near future is a positive one.

The partnership between Caesars Entertainment and 888 Holdings seems to have been based on past behaviour by 888 when US officials originally enforced the UIGEA. At that time, 888 Holdings was one of the first to pull out of the US market and to no longer accept US customers. Should online gambling be regulated in the US, companies who respected the decision by lawmakers at the time and who discontinued acceptance of US customers will be looked at favourably when it comes time for the licensing process.

Another reason Caesars has partnered with 888 Holdings is due to the existing software and hardware capabilities that 888 has to offer. With 888 Holdings being arguably the biggest and most established online gambling provider, Caesars Entertainment will definitely have the advantage over any of its competitors, by leveraging off the experience offered by 888, as well as the existing software platform, thus negating the need to build a platform from scratch.

Although the legislation process will not occur overnight, with the backing of Nevada officials who were previously strongly opposed to online gambling, the regulation of the industry in the US is on the right track.

The efforts of Representative Barney Frank to pass a bill to legislate online gambling in the US has also helped to change the view of the industry. It appears that Frank has now found an ally to help him in his efforts. Representative John Campbell (Republican) and Frank will co-author a bill that aims to regulate online gambling, and with other powerful lawmakers pushing for the legislation, this could well be the best opportunity to have an Internet gaming bill realized.

The approach taken by Frank and Campbell is different to anything else tried in the past. Instead of using the angle of the loss of billions of dollars in tax revenue from online gambling should regulation not come to pass, they are pushing the bill as a law enforcement tool aimed at cleaning up a “dirty industry in the control of foreign companies”.

The other benefit that would be a result of legislation of the industry is that millions of players would now have protection for their money invested in online gambling. In addition, state budgets, and those on the federal level, would get a considerable boost in tax revenue should the legislation come to pass.