Mitch Garber – The New Generation of Gambling Executives

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Garber’s 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.

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.

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.