888 Signing Gambling Deal With Harrah’s
Harrah’s, the world’s biggest casino company, is lobbying Congress to allow licensed gambling operators to accept online wagers from people in the U.S. 888 is investing in business-to- business services to gain a quicker foothold in the U.S. if online betting is legalized there.
The arrangement announced this week between Harrah’s Entertainment and 888 may signal the first signs of how online casinos would operate in a looser US market, says a gaming expert. Jerry Boyle, a Las Vegas-based gambling observer, says Harrah’s leasing of online software from 888 subsidiary Dragonfish shows an acceptance by Vegas gaming operators that buying software may be a better route than developing their own product.
888 will offer support services in gaming and payment software for Harrah’s World Series of Poker and Caesars Casino brands in the U.K., the company said in the statement.
(888 is also discussing additional business contracts with a “few other U.S. companies and not just in the field of casinos).
Harrah’s has been setting themselves up for possible law changes in the US, and now 888 may be in a position to re-enter the US market should it become regulated.