Trump Lucrative Gaming Market

Some of the most influential land based moguls made news this week since they’re aiming to enter the online gambling market in the United States. Many experts believe the way events are panning out so far that it’s just a matter of time before internet gambling is fully legalized and regulated in the U.S.

Trump Entertainment Inc. along with the Avenue Capital Group already filed statutory documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish a joint internet gambling operation. Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy in 2009; it was taken over by global investment firm Avenue Capital Management.

In Trump Entertainment a 22% stake is held by Avenue Capital, while Donald Trump still holds on to a 10% for the right to use his name. The executive vice president of development and acquisitions of the Trump Organization is Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump. She said in a recent interview to Bloomberg that Avenue Capital agreed to bankroll the venture and her father would provide his name.

Ivanka said, “The joint venture is positioning itself to be the largest internet gaming company should internet gambling be legalized in the U.S again. In terms of the Internet, brand is essential toward attracting players, the Trump brand would be the most powerful one in this space.” Ivanka believes that legalized U.S internet gambling would be a tremendous source of taxable revenue for the government and create thousands of jobs.

Forbes magazine stated that Jim Ryan, joint chief executive of bwin.party digital entertainment, is also interested in entering the United States. Formed through the merger of Bwin and PartyGaming, bwin.party is the largest listed operator on the planet. Ryan just spent 3 weeks in the U.S assessing the strengths of his company to probable American investors. Ryan indicated that the two brands that attracted the most attention in the U.S were PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Since they’ve been indicted it’s highly unlikely that they would be permitted any space in the legalized U.S internet gambling arena. As a result, Ryan argued, “The brand that has the most consumer awareness is in fact the PartyPoker brand.” Bwin.party is also the owner the World Poker Tour. Party Poker also paid a massive fine to redeem its name with the U.S Justice Department for pre-2006 operations without any indictment. Ryan said that he’s very interested to establish partnerships with two U.S companies.

Land-based casino gambling supplier Bally Technologies indicated recently at the G2E conference held in Las Vegas that it is optimistic that internet gambling would be legalized in the United States again. The Philadelphia Enquirer reported that Bally Technologies just started a new Interactive division to cover the mobile, internet and social network gambling markets.

Bally Technologies purchased Macro View Labs of San Francisco in July, which develops mobile apps and mobile websites. Bally spokesman Mike Trask said that some of Bally’s casino are already available in the iTunes store. Trask said, “The goal, at the end of the day, is to provide the same experience for a player no matter where he’s physically located . . . whether inside a casino, on a website, or while waiting in line at the grocery store.”