Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | March 2014 38 FEATURE The Early Implications It’s wise not to overstate the importance of one state’s opening month Internet gaming numbers; but neither should they be minimized because, in point of fact, a lot of people are looking at New Jersey right now. “I don’t think you can ignore it,”saidMr Jones.“A lot of things need to be done; a lot of heavy lifting. If development costs all of a sudden start to spiral well into the seven figures, it’s a surprise for people who thought this was going to be a minimal capital investment and, when they wake up, they were just going to have this nice little cash flow generator. I don’t think that’s the case. It’s going to take a little more capital investment. Seasoned operators have been saying from day one it would be a long haul.” The New Jersey effect could be felt as far away as California, for instance, where industry actors are keeping a close eye on developments, said Dennis Ehling, an attorney with the Los Angeles office of Blank Rome. “There are a lot of people out here paying attention,” said Mr Ehling. “The headaches that go with a launch like that and the revenue report… while it’s still early we haven’t quite seen the explosion yet, so that gives some people pause. On the other hand, what is fairly clear in the early days is that there’s much more interest initially in poker than in some of the online games. That gives some support for the thought that poker is likely to be the driver and it doesn’t cannibalize existing business. So that can help to assuage fears that make some of the tribal governments that spent a lot of money building out their brick-and-mortar facilities hesitant.” Mr Ehling believes that Internet gaming legislation in California is a 2015 proposition as this year is an election year and two bills that were introduced in the current legislative session have yet to make it out of committee. Sen. Lou Correa’s bill, which had the support of several high-profile tribes, including Pechanga, is a poker-only bill. “I don’t see anything going anywhere without tribal support and I don’t see the tribes comfortable with anything but poker,” said Mr Ehling. The early returns from New Jersey will only strengthen that view. Beyond the election-year issue, the absence of an immediate fiscal crisis could retard legislation in California as well. “The fiscal Chat rooms abounded with tales of players being cut off from sessions in mid-hand. “For bwin, their mobile application today only works when you’re connected to the Internet, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of mobile,” said Christopher Jones, managing director- senior gaming and lodging analyst at Telsey Advisory Group.