The bed sheets of online casinos and the brick and mortar gambling industry have become so entangled, that big news in one is likely to be caused or affected by big news in the other.  Ladbrokes, a leading online casinos and betting company, just lost their top man, chief executive officer Chris Bell.  Speculations abound as to what could have caused Bell’s sudden departure.

There is no shortage of theories as to why Bell left, but there does not seem to be very many concrete facts.  Some believe Bell’s stepping down had to do with the fact that Ladbrokes has not been performing very well of late.  Some think it might be more personal and point to a rift between Bell and the company’s former chairman.

However, people in the industry believe it might be more complicated than the aforementioned reasons.  Many people are pointing to the Mitch Garber model.  Garber was the former chief executive officer for Party Gaming.  He left the company for an opportunity to head up Harrah’s Entertainment’s new interactive gambling wing, Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment.

It is believed that Chris Bell’s talents will be utilized by some brick and mortar casino operator or another looking to expand into interactive gambling and online casinos.  MGM is a great candidate.  MGM just recently revolutionize gambling with the opening of their CityCenter casino project in Las Vegas.  Now that the project is up on its feet, it is likely that MGM will begin to look for new options.  In order to keep pace with Harrah’s there is a chance that MGM may delve into online casinos.