The casinos and resorts industry has been under tremendous pressure over the last few quarters as the various companies involved continue to soak in debt. The biggest challenge is not actually revenue generation but rather declining profit margins.
However, with the emergence of online gambling in the U.S and the continued legalization, more slot companies have moved to augment their businesses with online gambling.
Some have launched their own online gambling platforms while others have opted for partnership opportunities with already established online gambling companies mainly from Europe.
At some point a couple of years ago, real money online gambling in the U.S was seen as a pipedream, when Zynga (ZNGA, Financial), the social gaming pioneer, first launched a campaign to license several patents related to online gaming.
However, over the last few quarters, this dream has become more real than before and more states continue to push for legalization of real money online gambling. Currently, Nevada and New Jersey are leading the marks.
Online slot machines still at tepid levels in the U.S.
Generally, there are a few online poker sites that allow real money gambling across all 50 states, while others allow only U.S players to participate due to stringent legal framework between states. However, as for slot machines, the numbers are still building up, with the like of Royal Vegas Casino, Ruby Fortune Casino and Spin Palace Casino leading the marks.
Most of the companies operating these online slot machines are headquartered in Malta, which again tells the story about online gambling in the U.S. and the challenge of regulation.
Some of the out and out casinos and resorts companies such as Las Vegas Sands (LVS, Financial) have still not embraced the online gambling market, while others such as Caesars Entertainment (CZR, Financial) have partnered with 888 Holdings to offer online poker services.
On the other hand Wynn Resorts (WYNN, Financial) has left the doors open and could embrace the market in the future if there is an opportunity and circumstances change.
MGM Resources (MGM, Financial), though, has been one of the companies leading the campaign for legalization of online gambling in the country
Nonetheless, the U.S online gambling business is still growing and especially in New Jersey, where it began recently. According to reports, the state’s online gambling sites brought $11.6 million in January up 22% from the same period a year ago.
This indicates that there is a real opportunity in online gambling in the U.S and while the likes of Wynn Resorts are fearful of whether the government would let them keep the money, the net benefit cannot be overly ignored by both parties (the government and resorts and casino companies).
Conclusion
The bottom line is that whichever way these companies assess the opportunity in online gambling, the end result is a huge positive figure.
In fact, reports suggest that the level of illegal online gambling market in the U.S is a multi-billion dollar opportunity, which means if the legalization process is implemented in all or most of the states, then the companies as well as the government are bound to benefit massively.
