LAS VEGAS (AP) - Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has suspended the operations of an online gambling site based in the United Kingdom after posting losses of $9.3 million last year.
The move marks the second time a major Las Vegas casino company has tried and failed to tap into the lucrative Internet gambling market.
The former site, called LuckyMe, was introduced in November 2003 for British bettors and was suspended in October 2004, the company disclosed Tuesday in its annual report to shareholders.
The site was discontinued because it was losing money, said Harrah's spokesman David Strow.
Rather than the typical method of gambling for money, the Web site allowed players to access as many games as possible with a monthly subscription. Gamblers paid from about $17 to $84 per month for access to bingo and other games with cash prizes ranging from $8.50 to $1.7 million.
LuckyMe featured an identification process that prohibited bets from U.S. residents as well as from other countries where Internet gambling is prohibited.
The site was developed in partnership with Revahertz Networks, a Boston-based, privately held software game developer that founded Gamesville, a games-for-prizes site that was sold in 1999 to the Internet search engine Lycos.
In 2003, MGM Mirage shut down its gambling Web site that catered to U.K. and European customers because of the uncertain legal and political climate regarding Internet gambling.
The Justice Department considers Internet gambling illegal under the 1961 Wire Act, which was enacted to curb sports betting by telephone. In recent years, there have been various attempts in Congress to ban online betting.
