Gambling has always a been an incredibly lucrative market for those who have the capital to start off in the industry. Gambling sites that accept players in the United States are an entirely different beast. Despite the fact that US citizens can legally gamble at online websites regulated outside of the United States, there very few options concerning state regulated online gambling. Richard Branson took advantage of the rare legality of New Jersey online casinos when it launched VirginCasino back in 2014. Unfortunately the laws in New Jersey keep Branson’s customer base small by requiring that players be physically located within state borders in order to legally participate. Gambling licenses in general aren’t entirely dependent on capital either, Donald Trump himself failed to secure a license for his hotel in Las Vegas just last year.
Online gambling was, however, operating legally out of the United States during the 2000’s when the largest online gambling venue in the world, PokerStars, acquired hundreds of thousands of American players before being shut down in April of 2011. A date that some USA online poker enthusiasts have appropriately termed, “Black Friday”. The PokerStars brand was valued in the billions before they were shut down.
Now, the same company that rocked the headphone industry when they produced the Beats by Dre headphones is planning a move into online gambling within the United States. Monster’s new COO, Fred Khalilian is a former kingpin of telemarketing and had an unsuccessful stint as a reality TV personality for sometime. Khalilian is confident that he can change the playing field regarding the legalities of US based online gambling with their new poker brand, PokerTribe.com. The key, according to Khalilian, is first understanding the existing online gambling laws.
When Monster CEO, Noel Lee was asked about the new foray into online gambling, he was confident in their new COO. “The roadmap is unbelievable, fraught with laws, certifications, international law, gaming commissions, all that stuff. Very, very complex,” Lee exclusively told DigitalTrends.com. “But he [Khalilian] has overcome. He’s found his niche, he’s worked his way through the government, through the Federal Trade Commission, through all of that, with a strategy that’s built around the American Indians.”
It all started for Khalilian the day after black Friday when PokerStars was shut down in the US. He started researching and finding loopholes in existing laws and spent the last 6 years trying to manipulate the US laws surrounding Native American Gaming to the benefit of online gambling in the US. He recognized that Native American gambling is a billion dollar industry, bringing in 31.2 billion in 2016, and he thinks he has figured out how to make his business succeed using the loopholes he has found.
“I think I have it figured out, and I’m going to be the first in the world,” Khalilian told us. “And I’m going to be a multi, multi billionaire, without arrogance. I probably could be as big as Uber, if not bigger.”