Home / Poker News November 2012 / MGM Picks Up Nevada Online Poker License
MGM Picks Up Nevada Online Poker License
Posted by: Randy Williams - Fri, 2012-11-16 13:05
MGM has long been looking to secure a license which would allow the brick and mortar casino operation to go head to head with some of the world’s largest
online poker operators, in a legally regulated way. The casino giant has teamed up with online poker heavyweight bwin.party, the online poker platform of which it intends to use.
In a hearing held by the Nevada Gaming Commission, the casino group was approved for an interactive Nevada gaming license, which essentially enables it to start offering real money online poker games in the future. The games will obviously only be accessible for Nevada residents, and before it can actually get its online poker operation on the road, MGM will have to wait for bwin.party to be granted a license of its own.
Launching the actual real-money operation will be done in several steps, the first one of which is slated to be the launching of a play-money operation in early 2013.
The partnership under which MGM will offer online poker games to Nevada residents is a multi-directional one. Besides MGM and bwin.party there’s a third party too: Boyd Gaming. The partnership among the three operators was struck up last October. The biggest beneficiary of the setup will be bwin.party, the owner of the platform, which has a 65% share in the venture. Bwin.party will not only provide software for both its partners, it will also be responsible for maintenance.
MGM has a 25% cut of the pie, while Boyd Gaming will take home about 10% of the resulting revenues.
While bwin.party have already submitted their own application for a Nevada interactive gaming license, experts don’t see them acquiring one any time soon. As a matter of fact, the company’s first meeting with Nevada gaming regulators is scheduled for next year.
