$12 Billion Earnings For USA To Legalize Online Poker and Gambling

Goldeman Sachs predicts that America will legalize online gambling to create a combined US online poker and casino market worth up to $12 billion.

The bank told the investors that there is no doubt that it is logical to believe that the US market will regulate - having the potential implications for US tax take, if nothing else.

Earning up of Party Gamins rake relative to its 9% market share, the US poker market alone was worth $1.5bn in 2008 the report ended, a figure that concurs with those from gambling data specialists H2.

They believe that the size of the revenue opportunity could increase materially. Based on an assumption of 30% penetration of offline poker players and $300 gross gaming revenue (GGR) per player, they estimate that a legal poker market could be worth $3bn.

The report said that GGR increased to 45%, and GGR/player rise to $400, the size of the poker market alone could be worth $6bn. They estimated that the casino market could extend to a similar scale, based on various offline penetration assumptions.

The investment bank warned that progress on regulating online gambling at federal level will be slow, however, and that faster progress would be made a state level. Debate of Congressman Barney Franks bill to repeal UIGEA has been delayed until September, while state-level initiatives such as those to legalize poker games online in California or legal Internet pokerworks.net in Florida are moving more quickly.

Goldman Sachs conclusions mirror those of former Party Gaming chief executive and current Harrahs Interactive Entertainment boss Mitch Garber, who predicts that the USA will legalize online gambling in an interview on EGRmagazine.com today.

For more on US federal regulation of gaming, see our Barney Frank feature. Or for more on Californias talks on intrastate online poker, see our California poker feature at www.pokerworks.net