Caesars Entertainment has lodged an objection to a proposal that requires regulators to compile a roster of online poker players who have been banned or suspended for engaging in fraudulent activities.
Caesars Pushes Back Against Nevada Online Poker BillThe committee also heard from professional poker player Sara Cholhagian Ralston, who drafted the legislation. She proposed an amendment to the bill that tackles privacy and liability issues while eliminating any phrasing that might impede the due process employed by state gaming authorities.
Despite these changes, Caesars continued to push back against the proposal. According to Caesars lobbyist Mike Alonso, the company works with the Gaming Control Board “on a daily basis” and does “everything reasonably possible to keep bad actors off the [online poker] site.”
He went on to add :
“[the proposal could lead] to expensive and burdensome litigation for damaging someone’s reputation or from players who think that they lost money to an alleged cheater and want compensation.”
Alonso also noted that the Gaming Control Board and Caesars work hard to exclude cheats from the site:
Caesars Pushes Back Against Nevada Online Poker Bill“We cooperate with them and provide whatever we are required through reports. But we don’t make that determination. They’re a law enforcement agency and they go through a process.”
“I’d like to remind this committee that this is for real money. Poker players have a livelihood that they need to maintain. In the online poker world, we don’t have that level of transparency. You don’t know who you’re playing against. They need to have that type of information that’s relevant so a player can decide who to play with and who we don’t want to play with.”
In 2013, Nevada legalized online poker, but right now there is only one site, World Series of Poker, operated by Caesars Entertainment. Due to the absence of multiple online poker sites, the state does not disclose the revenue generated from the industry.
