To compare the amount of media coverage online casinos got back when they first came online in the late 1990s to their presence today is staggering.
Previously, mentioning online casinos on the main airwaves always accompanied some negative comment about online gambling addiction, or an otherwise unrelated attack on the industry as part of the ‘smut’ found on the internet that kids should steer clear of.
Yet after the proposal of Congressman Barney Frank to introduce a bill for the taxation, regulation, and creation of a new US-based online gambling industry, even MSNBC, one of the most popular news outlets in the country, have been interested in hearing the story. Last week MSNBC interviewed Executive Director John Pappas of the non-profit PPA (the group that famously lobbied against the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that prevented offshore online casinos from making financial transactions in America).
As one of the first and only media appearances from a representative of online gambling interest groups, the issue is finally getting the recognition it deserves as a topic that many American online casino aficionados feel strongly about Pappas was vigilant in expressing his desire to see the bill passed in Congress, mentioning that many arguments against the passage of the bill were not valid. Land casino’s have unfounded fears against the profitability of their own operations if an online gambling industry is regulated and supported by the American government, yet this has not been the case in the UK where regulation has gone on for years now.
Pappas was yet more effective as MSNBC had on Tim Kelly (of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission) as a counterpoint, who was utterly unable to argue Pappas effectively on any key topic of contention.
