Light & Wonder head of government affairs expects no further igaming market launches in 2024
Speaking at the Seton Hall Law School gaming conference, Howard Glaser says 2025 should see progress for online casino legislation in the US
Light & Wonder head of government affairs Howard Glaser has said he expects no further igaming states launches this year after Rhode Island went live this week.
Speaking at a Seton Hall Law School gaming conference yesterday in Newark, New Jersey, Glaser told the audience he anticipated 2025 as a potential boom in markets, but poured cold water on progress in the remaining 10 months of this year.
Following Rhode Island’s launch this week, the Ocean State has joined Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virgina in having a legalized igaming market.
Glaser said the reluctance of lawmakers varies greatly from state to state when addressing the gathered audiences.
Glaser also said Indiana has veered away from online casino legalization in the wake of the indictment of a leading state official on casino-related charges, while Iowa casinos for the most part are owned by local operators – not nationally-known ones.
Opposition in New York, meanwhile, is spearheaded by a powerful hotel and casino union that insists to lawmakers that online casino legalization will cost the state thousands of middle-class jobs.
Another stumbling block, Glaser added, is the “lack of unity within the casino industry on igaming”.
At a hearing on the issue in Maryland last week, for example, four casino operators in the state expressed support, while the other two operators did not.
Still, Glaser said that growing state budget deficits in the face of the end of lingering federal subsidies from the pandemic means that the long-delayed online casino gaming expansion period is inevitable within the next several years.
“What moves legislators is when the cost of not doing something is higher than the cost of doing it.
“That’s when a politician acts,” Glaser added, pointing out that elected officials tend to react only to two stimuli – “pain” or “pleasure”.
“When states need money, they will raise it through a business they are already in – casino gaming – and turn on the digital channel,” he said.
As for what states in 2024 might join Rhode Island – the first new online casino gaming state since 2021 – Glaser told gaming industry lobbyist and panel moderator Bill Pascrell III that the honest answer is “none.”
“Next year, we’ll see progress in New York and Maryland, we may see it in Louisiana, and perhaps in Illinois and Maine,” Glaser concluded.