CEO of Ceasar’s Gary Loveman: “I do Believe There’s a Will in Congress to Correct This (UIGEA)”

In an interview over the weekend with the Financial Times of London, Ceasar’s CEO Gary Loveman said he feels legalized Internet poker will be inevitable in the very near future. 

“We’ve had in the United States this bizarre situation where it has been legal for Americans over (the age of) 21 to play poker online but illegal for American companies to provide that service.  I can’t think of another example where there is something an American can buy but no American entity can provide.  It’s a very unusual situation and that’s what we’ve been through for some time.

“I do believe there’s a will in Congress to correct this,” he said.  “There’s a sense of  inevitability that this ought to be something people should do and that we ought to clean up the regulatory and policing environment for it and that ‘s what we’re seeking.”

WickedChopsPoker.com echoed those sentiments.

Sen. Harry Reid has made public and private statements again about Federal online poker regulation being a priority. Our sources confirm that online poker regulation is something Reid is expressing as a priority this year, and one of his biggest backers, Caesars Entertainment, spent $821,000 in lobbying for it in Q2 of 2011. Our sources also believe that if online poker is regulated, and this is no shocker, that it’ll be the big Nevada casinos who will get a head-start on the competition and receive the first licenses. However, we expect that to be expanded to Indian reservations as well, as their protests played at least a small in the stalling of the Reid BillTM back in December.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com