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With the U.S. casino industry making a hard push to pass federal online gambling legislation, it is no surprise that Donald Trump has plans to seize the Internet. “This has to happen because many other countries are doing it and like usual the U.S. is just missing out,” Trump told FORBES. “It seems inevitable, but with this country you never know if it’s inevitable.”
Trump’s comments come after Trump Entertainment Resorts disclosed in a securities filing it will form a joint venture for Internet gambling with Trump, together with his daughter Ivanka Trump, and Avenue Capital Group, the $12 billion hedge fund firm controlled by billionaire Marc Lasry. “We have been looking at this for a while,” Trump says. “We have the hottest brand in the world according to many and we think we will do extremely well because of the Trump brand.”
Trump and Lasry are in the final stages of selecting a management partner, negotiating with undisclosed third parties that have “experience in operating on-line gaming businesses in jurisdictions outside the United States where on-line gaming is currently allowed by law,” according to a Trump Entertainment Resorts Securities & Exchange Commission filing.
Trump is preparing both for the possibility of federal Internet gambling regulation becoming law or that New Jersey will do something on the state level. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and the American Gaming Association are working to get online gambling legislation through a divided Congress. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed an online gaming bill earlier this year, but some New Jersey lawmakers are still working to get legislation passed. Trump and Lasry have no plans to move forward without a federal or state regulatory regime in place. The joint venture would be 10% owned by Trump Entertainment, which is controlled by Lasry’s Avenue Capital.
Billionaire casino moguls like Trump and Steve Wynn have not publicly shown any interest in online gambling until this year, leaving the U.S. online gambling market, the biggest in the world, for offshore companies that operated U.S. facing web sites despite the fact that the Justice Department said all forms of online gambling were illegal, which has been a hotly contested issue.
Trump says both federal and state governments would benefit from increased tax revenues if online gaming was properly regulated. “The U.S. is missing out and New Jersey is missing out and everyone else is getting it,” Trump says.
Trump’s comments come after Trump Entertainment Resorts disclosed in a securities filing it will form a joint venture for Internet gambling with Trump, together with his daughter Ivanka Trump, and Avenue Capital Group, the $12 billion hedge fund firm controlled by billionaire Marc Lasry. “We have been looking at this for a while,” Trump says. “We have the hottest brand in the world according to many and we think we will do extremely well because of the Trump brand.”
Trump and Lasry are in the final stages of selecting a management partner, negotiating with undisclosed third parties that have “experience in operating on-line gaming businesses in jurisdictions outside the United States where on-line gaming is currently allowed by law,” according to a Trump Entertainment Resorts Securities & Exchange Commission filing.
Trump is preparing both for the possibility of federal Internet gambling regulation becoming law or that New Jersey will do something on the state level. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and the American Gaming Association are working to get online gambling legislation through a divided Congress. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed an online gaming bill earlier this year, but some New Jersey lawmakers are still working to get legislation passed. Trump and Lasry have no plans to move forward without a federal or state regulatory regime in place. The joint venture would be 10% owned by Trump Entertainment, which is controlled by Lasry’s Avenue Capital.
Billionaire casino moguls like Trump and Steve Wynn have not publicly shown any interest in online gambling until this year, leaving the U.S. online gambling market, the biggest in the world, for offshore companies that operated U.S. facing web sites despite the fact that the Justice Department said all forms of online gambling were illegal, which has been a hotly contested issue.
Trump says both federal and state governments would benefit from increased tax revenues if online gaming was properly regulated. “The U.S. is missing out and New Jersey is missing out and everyone else is getting it,” Trump says.