Caesars Prepares to Enter Nevada and New Jersey Online Markets

Caesars heads full force into the world wide web of real money online gambling. At its helm is Geoffrey Stewart, a global-management-consultant-turned-general-manager of Caesars Entertainment Corporation’s social gaming business and real money Internet gaming operations. A rather lengthy title for someone who is only 34 years old.

In his previous role at Bain & Co, Stewart had advised companies involved in technology and consumer products. Now, says Stewart, “I’m in a role where I have to act on my own advice.”

The Duke University graduate was interviewed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal in a feature piece that describes a “walk in the life” of Nevada’s up and comers. In his position as General Manager at Caesars Interactive Entertainment, he’ll be in charge of the World Serious of Poker online operations in both Nevada and New Jersey. “When you are looking at gaming,” says Stewart, “the expansion into the online and dynamic of the product is the most exciting thing currently happening in the industry.”

Caesars, it seems, is particularly poised to enter the online poker market in the United States. Says Stewart in the interview:

“Our philosophy is to pick one thing and do it really well. We’ll start with a WSOP brand in Nevada and execute on that while making sure it’s reflective of the brand. We want to build something that consumers will enjoy. In New Jersey, which will offer all forms of Internet gaming, you will see us move to leverage our various brand assets. But we will have a WSOP site in New Jersey.”

This is a message that was echoed in a recent announcement from Zynga, which is currently pulling its efforts out of online gambling in the United States and into what it considers to do best, social gaming. However, where Zynga is concentrating its efforts on the casual, social gamer, Caesars has its sites on the real money poker player.