[JacJacAtk]

If I had to guess, Harrah's management is either insane (not entirely impossible based on past history) or they think they're at significant risk legally for dealing with the online sites directly (or semi-directly, even). The DOJ could certainly have threatened them, for instance.

That said, it will be interesting to see if this only applies to US players (or sites still catering to them). If Party and everyone else can't register people directly either, I can't see the ME field making it to even a quarter of last year's levels.