Nevada Assembly Majority Whip William Horne introduced AB258 on Thursday calling for legalized intrastate online poker. The news comes one week after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have created the first intrastate internet gambling regime in the U.S.
Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas told the Wall Street Journal that his organization was still championing a nationwide solution: “I’m hoping something like this in Majority Leader Harry Reid’s backyard serves as a further clarion call that the Federal Government needs to step up and do this first.”
Who is pushing for Horne’s bill? According to the Journal, “The lobbying force behind the Nevada bill is Rational Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., which does business under the name PokerStars. Based in Britain’s Isle of Man, it runs gambling sites the U.S. considers illegal.” Whether online poker is “illegal” in the United States is up for debate.
The bill appears to be tailored to sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker that currently service the U.S. market. The bill’s text reads in part, “The Commission shall not deny a license to an operator of internet poker… solely because the operator… before the effective date of this act, operates, operated, or was associated with interstate or foreign commerce… while licensed in another jurisdiction.” As the Journal alluded to, PokerStars is based in the Isle of Man, while Full Tilt calls Ireland home.
Its text adds, “The Commission may issue a license as an operator of internet poker to a person or an affiliate of a person who has been licensed to operate internet poker by a recognized body of another jurisdiction with licensing requirements that are similar to the licensing requirements of this state and who has successfully operated internet poker pursuant to such a license for at least two years before the date on which the application for the license is submitted.”
The Nevada bill only applies to online poker and explicitly forbids sports betting, even though betting on football, basketball, and other games is legal in the desert state. It also allows Nevada officials to “enter into compacts” with other jurisdictions that allow internet gaming, although their relationship can only include online poker.
Leading up to Thursday’s bill was news that Caesars Entertainment, which owns and operates the annual World Series of Poker, will partner with 888’s Dragonfish. 888 will help the Nevada-based company “provide services to support the U.K. launch and rollout of CIE’s World Series of Poker and Caesars Casino brands,” according to a statement to the London Stock Exchange, where 888 is traded. However, Caesars Entertainment told ABC News that it also favors a Federal solution.
Whether the Nevada measure makes any headway remains to be seen. In New Jersey, a bill legalizing intrastate Web gaming sailed through the State Senate and Assembly before Christie vetoed it. Part of his concern had to do with whether the proposed law could survive a constitutional challenge. Poker News Daily has learned that no override is expected.
In Nevada, the same concern exists. A representative for MGM Resorts International told the Las Vegas Review Journal, “We support Federal legislation on this issue. Nevada’s previous efforts to implement online gaming at a state level were halted in 2002, when the Department of Justice advised Nevada that Federal law prohibits gambling over the internet.”
Some in the poker industry were somewhat surprised by the bill released on Thursday. One poster on TwoPlusTwo wrote, “I think brick-and-mortar casinos are going to do everything in their power to prevent outsiders such as PartyPoker from coming into their state and setting up shop at no cost. I would have thought Nevada would have basically created an online solution involving their casinos and possible online partners.”
The parent companies of sites like PartyPoker, 888, Paradise Poker, and William Hill are all traded in London. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest updates from Nevada.