Rumours on both sides of the Atlantic that Presidential candidate John McCain will look favourably on the online and land based casino industry in the States should he get elected have led many to believe the ban on online gaming there will be scrapped.

The Republican candidate has scheduled a meeting with a casino manger in Las Vegas which has prompted speculation that he is looking to court the casino industry in his quest to become the new president of America.

McCain has been coy about his plans and opinions on the gaming industry and the online ban but these are crucial times in the run-up to the vote for the Whitehouse and his strategists may want to react to public anger on the issue of the ban particularly.

While many are already pointing to the fact that the man in question is only the manager of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Tony Alamo others feel the meeting is of massive significance.

There is speculation that McCain is taking a softly softly approach to the gaming world and trying not to attract too much media coverage of his future meetings.

There is no doubt that a move to pull the casino industry on board would likely lead to a possible lifting of the online ban, but can McCain risk being associated with such a fight – something which has split much of America down the middle?

The battle lines have been drawn and support from each and every area of society and business will be courted by both presidential candidates.

McCain is a well known liberal in the Republican Party and recent articles say he likes a gamble himself.

Time magazine recently exposed McCain’s gambling habits.

They wrote “In the past decade, [McCain] has played on Mississippi riverboats, on Indian land, in Caribbean craps pits and along the length of the Las Vegas Strip. Back in 2005 he joined a group of journalists at a magazine-industry conference in Puerto Rico, offering betting strategy on request. "Enjoying craps opens up a window on a central thread constant in John's life," says John Weaver, McCain's former chief strategist, who followed him to many a casino. "Taking a chance, playing against the odds." Aides say McCain tends to play for a few thousand dollars at a time and avoids taking markers, or loans, from the casinos, which he has helped regulate in Congress. "He never, ever plays on the house," says Mark Salter, a McCain adviser. The goal, say several people familiar with his habit, is never financial. He loves the thrill of winning and the camaraderie at the table.

Only recently have McCain's aides urged him to pull back from the pastime. In the heat of the G.O.P. primary fight last spring, he announced on a visit to the Vegas Strip that he was going to the casino floor. When his aides stopped him, fearing a public relations disaster, McCain suggested that they ask the casino to take a craps table to a private room, a high-roller privilege McCain had indulged in before. His aides, with alarm bells ringing, refused again, according to two accounts of the discussion."

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