After December of last year saw the United States Department of Justice flip-flop their opinion regarding online gambling in the US, the door was left open for individual states to decide their online gambling destiny. Almost immediately Nevada passed legislation allowing online poker for their residents and visitors inside their state boundaries, and Delaware followed suit. Since then many states have pushed for some form of online gambling legislation, and the recent elections in the United States will have a lot to say about what the future of online gambling in America looks like in 2013.
Poker
PA and CT Testing Online Poker Waters With Free-Play Sites
With both Delaware and Nevada in the United States ready to virtually shuffle up and deal, several other states have been pushing to cash in on the virginal legalized poker Internet phenomenon in the US. The United States Department of Justice late last year changed their opinion on online poker, and now allows each individual state to decide their own online poker fate. The Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut and Pocono Downs Casino in Pennsylvania will be offering free play online poker as a way of testing the pay for play waters in advance of possible Internet poker legislation in those two states, and at the federal level in the US.
Nevada GCB OK’s MGM Resorts for Online Poker License
The Nevada state Gaming Control Board (GCB) that is responsible for recommending companies for interactive gaming online licenses met on Thursday, November 1 to consider the merits of multiple online poker applicants looking for licenses. Nevada was the first state to legalize online poker after the United States Department of Justice passed that responsibility onto the state level in late 2011. Obviously, those companies which get involved on the ground level will have a leg up on the competition in both Nevada and the United States overall, and the GCB recommended MGM Resorts International as a license holder along with two other companies Thursday.
NV Gov Sandoval Backs Reid-Kyl Federal Internet Gambling Bill
Republican Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is one of the rising stars on the American political landscape, and he recently threw his “full support” to a federal Internet gambling bill. The bill proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) calls for an across-the-board regulation by the United States government of Internet gambling practices. Sandoval’s own state of Nevada has already legalized online poker, and Delaware is the only other state to legalize online gambling since the United States Department of Justice asked that responsibility be passed onto the state level. Nevada is inching closer to actually delivering the first occurrence of online poker since the US DOJ flip-flopped their age old position on Internet gaming in December of 2011.
Boyd Awarded Nevada Online Poker License
Nevada rapidly moved to become the first state in the US to offer online poker for money after the Department of Justice (DOJ) allowed each individual state to decide their own Internet poker destiny late last year. As you can imagine, since then companies have been lining up in hopes of being approved for one of the first ever interactive gaming licenses offered by the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC). Companies who are able to participate in the first wave of legalized online poker play since the DOJ ruling will be able to establish themselves as leaders in what looks to be a multibillion dollar industry in the US.
Northern Nevada Future Bigwig of US Online Casino Games
Sometime in the next couple of months, the Reno based software developer 3G Studios will debut their online poker site. They recently launched their SlotALot.com online slots room, and just became the first video game company to apply for an online poker license in the United States. And until Nevada works out all the kinks in their online poker infrastructure, the up-and-coming software and video game developer will have to be happy with allowing players to gamble with free tokens. But that is still an incredibly lucrative undertaking, as virtual gambling with fake money or tokens created $2.4 billion in 2011.
First Ever Online Poker License Granted – 3 New Licenses
With now close to 40 companies having applied for online interactive gaming licenses in Nevada, three new companies came one step closer to benefiting from Nevada’s “first-ever” online poker status in the United States by receiving an approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday, September 18. Companies must first receive a go-ahead from the State Gaming Control Board after an intense vetting process, then the voting moves on to the Nevada Gaming Commission, and three new companies received the most recent thumbs up approval in last week’s round of voting. Nevada was the first state to pass online intrastate poker legislation since the United States Department of Justice passed that responsibility to the state level in December of last year.
California Senator Wright Continues Online Poker Fight
Between native Indian tribes with a virtual monopoly on poker revenue and a rapidly ticking timer which continues to rule out 2012 as a possibility for legalized online poker play in the state, California’s poker proponents are stuck between a clock and a hard place. However, one of the senators who authored the current online poker bill which awaits approval or rejection is not about to give up without a fight. Senator Rod Wright co-authored online intrastate poker Bill SB 1463 with state Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, and it currently stands against heavy opposition from Native American groups in California, as well as financial skeptics concerning online poker’s fiduciary promises.
California Internet Poker – A Hard to Kill Topic
A proposed Internet poker bill for California has died in committee at the end of August, but it seems the topic of Internet poker in the Golden State is proving hard to kill. Even with the Republican National Committee staunchly announcing their stance that online poker and other forms of gambling in the United States be deemed illegal in all forms, many leaders in California’s gaming industry persist in keeping Internet poker alive in the minds of prospective players and legislators. In a recent interview with Card Player magazine, a source close to the California Internet poker legislative situation, speaking on a condition of anonymity, said that the top players in that state’s gaming industry have vowed to keep Internet poker front and center in the eyes of both California’s residents and their legislators.
Online Gambling Crushed Hollywood Receipts in 2011
Online poker and other forms of gambling were illegal in the United States in 2011. Similar laws were in force in multiple European and Asian countries around the world as well, yet Hollywood movies are promoted, shipped to, and viewed in every corner of the globe. And yet even so, Hollywood barely matched a mere 20% of the amount of income created by online wagering and gambling in 2011 in South America alone. Hollywood movies grossed a little under $26 billion worldwide in 2011, but online gaming in poker rooms, casinos, bingo halls and sportsbooks in just South America totaled more than $124 billion.