Mitch Garber – The New Generation of Gambling Executives

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Mitch Garber The New Generation of Gambling
Executives
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The blazing debate about whether online gambling
has a place in American commerce continues to be
a hot button of discussion between industry
professionals, politicians, and everyday
citizens. Polarizing views on this topic are
glaringly visible among the old school thinking
of some land-based casino leaders resisting the
new school mentality of catering to the online
entertainment community and digital generation of
consumers.
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Caesars Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch
Garber considers himself and his colleagues The
New Generation of gambling executives, who are
willing to take on the old school naysayers in
order to follow their customers online.
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With more people choosing to transact business
online, educate themselves online, and even find
love online, Garber feels the new generation of
gambling executives along with legislators should
create a regulated framework which allow adults
to play online.
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Garber argues that new age gambling executives
know their future generation of players will be
coming from the online world and smart leaders
should spend more time preparing for this new way
of doing business, instead of opposing what most
say is a natural transition for these players.
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Mitch Garber is also the man behind the widely
successful World Series of Poker (WSOP) and
asserts online poker created the poker boom as
people know it today. Founder and former CEO of
WPT (World Poker Tournament) Enterprises Steven
Lipscomb echoed Garbers sentiment during the
2014 IGaming North America Conference while
acting as a moderator between the pro
legalization Garber and anti legalization Sands
executive Andy Abboud.
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Lipscomb recalled a time where land-based casino
operators fearing the worst for the online
gambling landscape changed their minds about
online poker after seeing quantifiable results
without incident from 2002 2010. Many are
betting that resistant land-based casino
executives will eventually get the memo that
online gaming is the future and will structure
their business accordingly.
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For Garber and his team, this is an inevitable
outcome and they will continue to take a
proactive stance by making the necessary changes
to their infrastructure that will accommodate
gamers who prefer online entertainment. His
management of six land-based casinos is also a
testament to the convergence of online and
offline businesses and the ability for them to
co-exist in a complimentary fashion.