Poker Leader of the Pack

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 managed to pull in a combined $5.3 billion, it becomes apparent why many experts believe that the new industry is set to outshine all other forms of gambling, including sports gambling.

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