The Maven: Chaos Brings Opportunity

Online gamblers who operate in America have been given up for dead, thanks to passage of legislation to ban the practice. So the first bumptious declaration that these companies might somehow, someway be looking to find a way to fight another day did not get much play in the press this week. I had to go all the way to England -- to The Daily Telegraph in the U.K., where all the online-gambling officials not under house arrest in the U.S. are hiding beneath their mattresses --- to find mention of this possible declaration of counterattack in this intriguing little headline:

"PartyGaming has not given up on U.S."

What followed was a modest little article -- which we'll get to -- but the public's assumption that online gambling is permanently dead in America and the business media's underplaying of these fightin' words that maybe it's not -- seems indicative of opportunity to the Business Press Maven.

First, let's back up.

Personally, The Business Press Maven found online poker a healthier alternative to the traditional kind because he was a touch less likely to drink and smoke cigars when alone. Professionally, though, I see this as the ultimate test case of whether an industry assumed to be kaput because of government overreach can, in fact, survive -- even thrive. History is on the side of a comeback, from alcohol in the time of Prohibition to healthcare in the waxing years of Clinton.