AGA Gearing Up for iGaming Battle
As groups like Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling and other anti-iGaming forces work to keep their message – and their names – in the headlines, an institution devoted to promoting regulation of online betting is ramping up its own fight.
This week it was announced that powerful U.S. gambling lobbying group the American Gaming Association (AGA) will be bringing on additional staff as it prepares to delve even further into the issue of legalizing access to real money online casino and online poker sites in the United States, TheHill.com reported.
New head taking aggressive moves
Geoff Freeman, the new head of the organization, is clearly committed to making a splash in what will be his first year on the job.
Freeman came to his position as head of the AGA last summer, replacing Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who oversaw what is arguably the nation’s most visible pro-gambling force from its inception back in 1995 until Freeman took the helm in July.
Freeman remarked that he is hoping that by hiring new staff members and consultants, the AGA can broaden its scope well beyond the borders of the nation’s capitol, Washington D.C.
“It’s part of a big shift that we are making. We are becoming a more proactive group that is working to define the image of the gaming industry,” Freeman said.
“It’s less about legislation and more about defining the image of this industry, not in just Washington but in the states as well,” the Hill quoted Freeman as saying.
Group hires former Obama campaign manager
To that end, the AGA has taken on the consulting services of Jim Messina, who ran President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. Messina has a consulting firm called the Messina Group.
Speaking to Messina’s hire, Freeman said, “We have hired Messina to work on grassroots initiatives. Online gaming is one of those. Jim is as politically astute as they come and he will be a great resource for us.”
State by state regulation to be most likely outcome
And while campaigns like that of the AGA and Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling receive national attention, the importance of lobbying at the state level is not lost on either side of this fight, considering that thus far, Internet gambling regulation has played out more in the states than it has at the federal level.
Though there are a few online poker bills circulating around Capitol Hill, most followers of online gambling regulation agree that action on the issue is highly unlikely in the near term given the partisan divide that has thrown the government into what is approaching years-long gridlock.
More likely, states will continue to roll out online betting on their own in the coming years. Three states – Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey – have already successfully launched real money online wagering markets.
More states are expected to come online, or at least look into the possibility of coming online, among them Illinois, Pennsylvania, and California, in the next few years, though most gambling pundits agree that we are unlikely to see any new markets launch prior to the start of 2015.
