MGM Ventures Online

MGM Resorts chief exec, Jim Murren made an announcement on the 5^th of October that his company is on the verge of venturing into the internet gambling market, by introducing a brand new social media game enabling players to build up a farmyard enterprise, comparable to Zynga’s Farmville.

The difference is that MGM’s farm will enable players to become virtual “casino moguls”. According to Murren, whose company is a staunch supported for the legalization of internet casinos in the United States, “The demographics of internet gamers are really right in the strike zone of the gaming industry.”

Another internet gambling venture surfaced recently – that of South Point Casino, it is owned by Michael Gaughan, announced the launch of a new “free-to-play” internet poker facility, its purpose is to propel the brand awareness and interest in internet poker, awaiting that internet gambling would be legalized in Nevada soon.

Presently, the site could only be accessed by members of South Point’s casino loyalty program, but will be available to the public on the October 17^th.

Gaughan said,  “I don’t know that much about internet poker and I’m trying to learn about it with a free site,” he said, adding that he has been making sure he’s ready in the event of legalization of internet poker in Nevada by keeping close connections with Nevada gambling regulators.

“I think it (legalized internet gambling) would help business at the South Point and I think I could make money with it as a poker site,” Gaughan concluded.

On the flip side of the coin, Teresa Zellhoefer, deputy enforcement chief for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said that the South Point site is mainly a promotional tool in the eyes of the regulator, who supposedly ensures that issues such as arbitration of disputes in casino games and keeping of information about hands played, have been properly addressed, even though it had no word in the launch of the site, as it does not engage in any play for real cash.