Caesars CEO calls Black Friday an opportunity to help reduce his company’s debt
Steven Stradbrooke
April 27, 2011
Caesars Entertainment CEO
Gary Loveman has caused a stir with his CNNmoney.com op-ed “
online poker: Legalize it!” In the widely distributed piece, Loveman describes the Black Friday indictments as an “opportunity” and suggests that
“legitimate” gaming outfits (such as, ahem, his own) and the federal government “seize the moment.” Gary helpfully offers suggestions on how best to
carpe this
diem, the most important being the enacting of a federally regulated poker environment. The phrase “only federal legislation can” is sprinkled liberally throughout the piece, yet curiously
Gary makes not a single reference to his company allegedly helping to torpedo New Jersey’s intrastate-poker legislation earlier this year.
Gary goes on to compare the US prohibition against online poker with the country’s infamous experiment with alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, saying that, in both cases,
“business is being diverted from legitimate, respected companies that employ thousands of people to fly-by-night, underground (and in this case, foreign) operations.”
For the record, outside the US, international companies like
pokerstars are viewed as perfectly legitimate operations that also employ thousands of people.
And unlike Gary’s “respected” company, PokerStars isn’t currently carrying over $18 billion dollars of debt. Gary also insists that future federal legislation be poker-only – no sportsbetting nor the
slots and table games on which his land-based
casinos depend so heavily to keep Caesars’ debt levels
below $20b. It’s also worth wondering whether anyone should heed gaming industry advice from the man who
famously turned down the chance to have a presence in Macau. Did we mention Caesars’ $18b debt?
