Online-Gambling Lobbying Firm iDEA Launches Washington DC Office
The I-Development and Economic Association (iDEA), a new lobbying group working on behalf of its online-gambling industry membership, has opened up a Washington, DC office to work on behalf of Internet-based gambling in the United States.
iDEA, which has launched its online home at https://ideagrowth.org/, has introduced itself to the US’s federal-level politics with the support of a spectrum of corporate entities spanning online gambling’s business world. The lobbying group proclaims that it is “an association seeking to grow jobs and expand online interactive entertainment business in the United States through advocacy and education.”
The trade association / lobbying group has debuted with 17 members, including: Amaya, Inc.; Golden Nugget; Paysafe; Paddy Power Betfair (d/b/a Betfair here); GVC Holdings; Resorts Interactive; Catena Media; NetENT (Net Entertainment); Sightline Payments; Continent 8 Technologies; NYX; Tropicana Entertainment; Gamesys; Pala Interactive; Vantiv Gaming Solutions, eZUugi; and IfrahLaw.
iDEA hopes to lobby federal legislators and power brokers on the positives of online gaming. Initial research served up by the group leans heavily on the New Jersey market experience; that state is by far the most successful of the three US states to regulate online gambling to date.
The group’s online portal also offers a primer of sorts, seemingly served up as an easy checkpoint for people, including the DC crowd, to learn more about the industry.
Under the heading “What’s Online Gaming?” iDEA serves up this:
The terms “online gaming” and “iGaming” refer to internet for-profit games such as online poker, online bingo, online casinos, sports betting, and lotteries. In the United States, internet gaming is a highly regulated industry and all businesses must be associated with a brick and mortar casino.
Three states — Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey — and the U.S. Virgin Islands currently offer online casino gambling. Other states such as California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington are considering legislation which would legalize online gaming.
The iGaming community is secure, regulated and growing. For example, as a result of regulations and procedures now in place in New Jersey, anyone who enjoys playing casino style games on-line now has the ability to do so in that state in a legal, regulated environment with the assurance of trusted brands and strong player protections. Innovative technologies have been developed to protect players and companies from fraud and abuse.
Another section, titled “Economic Benefits”, offers a top-level look at the many reasons why iGaming is good business, in the process taking a return swipe at the shade often tossed as online gambling by its foes, including Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson.
Here’s a sample:
The iGaming community is secure, regulated and growing. For example, as a result of regulations and procedures now in place in New Jersey, anyone who enjoys playing casino style games on-line now has the ability to do so in that state in a legal, regulated environment with the assurance of trusted brands and strong player protections. Innovative technologies have been developed to protect players and companies from fraud and abuse.
iDEA has also provided some more detailed analyses of the nascent US online market, which we’ll explore at a later date.
One of the apparent reasons for the launching of iDEA is the ongoing neutering of the American Gaming Association on all topics regarding online gambling. That neutering of the AGA, undertaken by Adelson, its largest donor, has left the US’s largest gambling-entertainment lobbying group muzzled on the entire topic. Given that void, which has now existed for about three years, there’s no surprise as to why iDEA was started. The group is a long way – and a lot of money – from being able to supercede the AGA, but if that more established group wasn’t going to address the online gambling business, it was clear someone else had to fill that role.
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