William Hill enters Las Vegas

Internet gambling is still illegal in the USA but there are rumours that this might be about to change and in the general casino news last week was the fact that William Hill wants to get closer to the action and is buying a number of Las Vegas establishments in the sports gambling business. We have had several reports in our news pages here at onlinecasino.ie about the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act) and in all but four states in the USA even sports gambling is illegal, but Nevada is one of the four and William Hill is buying American Wagering Inc. and the Club Cal Neva Satellite Race and Sports book Division. It would appear that some casino operators do not like the uncertainty which comes with running sports books and prefer the known risks of casino games so the advances of William Hill have been welcomed. There may a second motive however when we hear William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping talk about the deal giving them a better insight into how quickly the changes might be coming by being on the ground and there is no doubt that as William Hill will need to be licensed by the Nevada Gaming Commission, having such a license could give them an advantage if the internet gambling market does open up. Elsewhere in the casino news we heard from the outgoing chief executive of 888 Gigi Levy stating that talks between 888 and Ladbrokes were still ongoing and seemed quite bullish when stating “There’s not a lot of disagreement other than one, which is price”, but later in the week Ladbrokes reported that the talks were off, we shall wait and see.