Home / Poker News October 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – Online Poker on Hold in Nevada
The Poker Grapevine – Online Poker on Hold in Nevada
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2012-10-18 16:21
Online poker has been legalized in the State of Nevada for a while, but thus far no actual intra-state operations have been started up. The company which was set to become the first one to offer legal, real money intra-state online poker was South Point Poker. While the company never really held out hopes to directly compete with the biggest operators, it certainly aimed to make an edge out of launching the very first legal online poker operation in the post-UIGEA US.
South Point Poker’s site was supposed to go online in October, since the interactive gaming licenses necessary for operation were obtained way back in August. Unfortunately for the company though, it won’t be able to go online until December after all, due to negotiations with gaming regulators and more importantly, due to the actual testing of their online gaming technology.
According to the CEO of South Point Poker, the company would be ready to push the product online today, although he admitted that going through all the independent testing authorities, and fulfilling every request of the State Gaming Control Board was indeed in the best interest of the operation. Being the first online poker room to launch, the last thing they would want is to fall flat on their faces.
South Point’s main advantage over their competition stemmed from the fact that they – unlike other corporate entities that have thus far applied for licenses – have acquired their own interactive gaming system, instead of relying on partnerships with other service providers. Their licenses cover both the operator and the service provider side of the issue.
The first two companies that received licenses were Bally Technologies and IGT.
