Binion’s plans to launch Internet casino

Friday, Dec. 13, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

Downtown landmark Binion's Horseshoe introduced a "play for fun" website this week that is intended to serve as a first step to launching a real-money Internet casino for foreign bettors.

It might be just one of a few web casinos introduced by Las Vegas casino companies.

In late September, MGM MIRAGE -- one of the world's largest gaming companies -- launched its gambling site, www.playmgmmirage.com, for bettors in certain countries outside the United States.

A company affiliated with Sheldon Adelson's Venetian resort disclosed in August that it was investing in an Internet gambling business for non-U.S. gamblers and had applied for a web casino license from a regulated jurisdiction abroad. Park Place Entertainment Corp. has also applied for a license abroad.

Still, neighborhood casino operator Station Casinos Inc. -- one of the most aggressive proponents of interactive gambling concepts -- recently shelved its Internet gambling development program.

Binion's has offered an informational website for several years and offers a live Internet broadcast of its annual World Series of Poker.

The play-for-fun games will allow Binion's to collect email addresses from players for future marketing purposes, Binion's Information Technology Director Federico Schiavio said.

Binion's planned full-fledged Internet casino wouldn't accept bets from the United States, where Internet gambling remains illegal. The company also isn't interested in limiting bets to Nevada, where regulators are mulling whether to legalize in-state Internet gambling by Nevada residents.

"We don't want to do something to upset the regulators," Schiavio said.

Moves by several casino companies to launch free, "for-fun" gambling on their websites prompted the Nevada Attorney General to issue an opinion stating that players can't receive prizes based on the outcome of a game -- even if no money was wagered.

Information on the cost of the site wasn't immediately available. Binion's, privately owned by Becky Behnen, the daughter of casino founder and Las Vegas gaming pioneer Benny Binion, hasn't detailed its financial performance and has denied rumors that the property has financial problems.

Behnen could not be reached for comment.

The casino will have a built-in customer base of international gamblers who are already familiar with Binion's and its poker championship, Schiavio said.

The World Series of Poker draws thousands of players to downtown Las Vegas each year. In May, roughly 7,300 people from about 25 countries entered the contest for a chance to win a piece of a $21 million pool -- considered one of the largest prize pots in poker.

"People are used to our name all over the world," Schiavio said.

Irish-based Access Gaming Systems Ltd., a transaction processing software company that serves Internet casinos, interactive television networks and lotteries, is managing the simulated casino. The site is hosted from a computer server in Australia, where Internet gambling is regulated.

Access said Binion's is the first American casino operator to use the company's system, which is licensed to casino operators in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia.

The Australian host location could allow the Binion's website to tap into a lucrative Far East customer base, Schiavio said.

Binion's revamped its website, www.binions.com, a month before the poker series. The property changed its web maintenance vendor and added more information to the site.

Internet gambling remains in legal limbo, with some court rulings diverting from the federal government's current interpretation of gambling laws. Major U.S. credit card issuers have already moved to halt online wagers in part due to government pressure.

Lack of clarity prompted Station Casinos to pull the plug on current efforts in this country and convert the purchase of a foreign web casino operation into an option to buy.

Besides MGM MIRAGE, other Las Vegas companies haven't yet detailed plans for web casinos.

Park Place's Internet gambling license application is pending in the Isle of Man, a tiny island nation off the coast of Britain.

"We continue to take a conservative approach to the issue of online gaming," company spokesman Robert Stewart said. "Some of those issues are getting more, not less, complex."

Representatives of the Venetian could not be reached by press time to comment on the status of their previously announced application in Alderney, one of the British Channel Islands.

Both islands have semi-independent governments that have developed Internet gambling regulations.