Foxwoods Latest On 'Playaway' Casino
Published: Friday, August 05, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
FOXWOODS LATEST ON 'PLAYAWAY'
Re-start date for "PlayAway" now pushed out to August 15
Foxwoods casino representatives last Friday agreed to suspend the resort's controversial
online "PlayAway" game until Aug. 15, following a meeting with state
regulatory authorities.
This is 13 days later than the original Aug. 2 restart date promised by the
resort management. A spokesman for the casino said the tribe will use the extra
time to provide detailed information to the state.
Foxwoods, which is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, is the first
casino in the country to try such a venture. If it succeeds, members of the
National Indian Gaming Association expect the idea will attract other interested
tribes.
Casino regulators in New Jersey are also watching. The Casino Control Commission
is considering allowing Atlantic City casinos to use such software and spokesman
Dan Heneghan said regulators will monitor the Connecticut dispute.
Foxwoods believes the issue is merely a matter of appearance. The PlayAway Web
site never explained that the fancy blackjack and slot machine graphics were
just a facade, a way to heighten the experience of checking for a winning keno
ticket.
"Clearly the impression when you first went onto the Web site was that
this was online gambling," said George Henningsen, chairman of the tribe's
gaming commission. "It looks like you're playing. I know you're not, but
I can't argue that it looks like it."
From a gambling standpoint, Henningsen said, it's the same game they've been
running for years in which players try to guess series of random numbers. Visitors
can buy keno tickets for future games, go home, miss the drawings, check the
winning numbers and return to Foxwoods to cash in.
Henningsen said the tribe is tweaking its software to tell people that, despite
the animations, they aren't actually playing games. They also plan to add a
button to skip the graphics and just check the keno numbers.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says the software crosses the line into
Internet gambling, which is illegal. If this promotion is approved, he said
there's nothing to stop the tribe from coming back for another slight change
later.
"The slope is so slippery," Blumenthal said. "Once Internet gambling
is allowed, almost any form of Web site gaming will occur."
The Internet gambling market is expected to generate nearly $17 billion in yearly
revenue by 2009, according to the American Gaming Association. But Foxwoods
officials say that's not their market. They don't want people sitting at home.
They want players driving to the casino, which is what a winning PlayAway game
forces them to do.
Internet marketing is big in every industry, Henningsen said, and casinos must
keep up with the times. "You're crazy not to be using the Internet,"
he said. "It's a personal link to someone who you know already has an inclination
to gamble."
Steve Kane, CEO of GameLogic, the Massachusetts-based company that wrote the
software, wouldn't discuss where else he's pitching his product but said it
would be a good fit in any market. He said Connecticut's concerns are "imminently
solvable."
Blumenthal said the tribe hasn't formally proposed any software changes but
he said he can't foresee anything that would make the game acceptable as long
as people are playing casino games online with a profit attached.
While the Mashantucket Pequots said they're eager to reach a compromise, they
said they expect the game to be online soon.
"At this moment," Henningsen said, "I can't see any way this
will be withdrawn."
