Harrah's Hotel and Casino enterprises chief executive declared last Wednesday that Harrah’s is looking to take part at the World Series of Poker, pushing the already famous brand into the realm of Internet poker in the U.K. and continental Europe. Gary Loveman made the comment at the Global Gaming Expo, the largest trade show of the year for the North American casino industry.

Since the gambling bill was voted last year, banks and payment processors are not allowed to take part in cash transactions from U.S.-based players to and from online poker sites, the bill was signed last year and it has created a series of problems and frictions for the U.S government since then. Even when everybody thought the dance was about to be over, Internet gambling businesses started an unexpected expansion on the rest of the civilized world, and many sites and poker rooms experienced a major traffic since thet are treated differently outside the U.S.

"If you take a look at the legal landscape in continental Europe and the United Kingdom, there are countries where it's demonstrably legal and there's absolutely no encumbrance," Loveman said. "Those are areas that are very attractive to us."

Tournament spokesman Gary Thompson explained that Harrah's final goal is to study the market and legal conditions before deciding whether to continue. It would not enter the online poker market "where there are any gray areas," he said. Harrah's acquired the rights in relation to the World Series of Poker back in 2004, and it continues being the biggest event in the world of poker. Attendance for this year was not as good as expected since many online poker sites didn't offer any prize packages to U.S. residents awarding them seats in the main event.