Casino CEO sees chance for US Internet gambling

The recent changeover to Democratic leadership in the U.S. Congress could provide a chance to explore legalization of online gambling, the chief executive of casino operator MGM Mirage said on Wednesday.

A new U.S. law making it illegal for banks, credit card companies and online payment systems to process payments to online gambling companies 'makes no sense whatsoever,' MGM CEO Terry Lanni said at a gambling conference held here. 'The Republican Party pandered to the religious right,' he added.

In October, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee was successful in tacking the Internet gambling ban onto a popular bill on port safety. Frist, however, is retiring from Congress as he mulls a possible run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Passage of the U.S. law pummeled shares of British-listed Internet gambling companies, which have since withdrawn from the U.S. market.

'Britain wants to be second to none in regulation of Internet gambling ... We firmly believe that the way forward is to regulate, rather than prohibit,' said Peter Dean, chairman of Britain's Gaming Commission, who also spoke at the conference.

Lanni said MGM would like to see a study commissioned to examine whether online gambling can be successfully regulated in the United States.

The American Gaming Association, of which Lanni is the current chair, is expected to decide in December whether to pursue legislation calling for such a study.

Dean said that from a British perspective, the U.S. ban is puzzling, in that 'prohibition doesn't have a conspicuous record of success in this country ... the obvious result is that the activity is going to be driven underground.'