There are no internet poker sites up and running in Nevada yet, but already state legislators might change the law that allows for intrastate online poker. Class is back in session in Carson City and soon, according to an Associated Press report on BusinessWeek.com, elected officials might expand the borders of our favorite internet game.
The law, as it stands, makes it legal for licensed operators to run online poker sites, provided (among many other rules) their customers are located within the borders of the Silver State. It also says that interstate, or cross-country, gaming is out of the question until:
(1) A federal law authorizing the specific type of interactive gaming for which the license was granted is enacted; or
(2) The United States Department of Justice notifies the Board or Commission in writing that it is permissible under federal law to operate the specific type of interactive gaming for which the license was granted.
This all may change, as Assembly Bill 5, which according to the report will be discussed in the state legislature soon, would reverse these clauses. More specifically, the above quoted portion would be completely removed from the law. Additionally, the following verbiage would be added to the law:
The Governor, on behalf of the State of Nevada, is authorized to:
1. Enter into agreements with other states, or authorized agencies thereof, to enable patrons in the signatory states to participate in interactive gaming offered by licensees in those signatory states; and
2. Take all necessary action to ensure that any agreement entered into pursuant to this section becomes effective.
Thus, taken together, Nevada would no longer have to wait for any sort of word from the federal government to go ahead and allow its licensed operators to accept players from outside of the state. Those customers would still have to be in states that also permit online poker, but the state of Nevada would be free to enter into agreements with such states in order to allow non-Nevadans to play.
Reciprocity agreements like this are not new when it comes to gambling in the United States. Multiple lotteries in the country pool players from different states, including the massive Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries, which are both played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The only states in which they are not played are Utah, Hawaii, Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada (no coincidence there), Wyoming, and Alaska, plus Florida for Mega Millions and California for Powerball.
Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett was quoted in the AP story as saying, “I think this is something that could help our state. Otherwise I don’t think you’d see this kind of interest in it. This is something that would go out and allow our operators to be as competitive as they can be.”
Stressing the importance of the larger player pool that would result from expanding the customer base past the Nevada borders, Tom Breitling, chairman of Ultimate Gaming, said, “This is peer-to-peer game, so you want your customers when they go online to actually be able to get a game of poker going.”
He added, “It becomes much more exciting if the player pool is 100,000, not 10,000, and if you can actually go online and win $1 million, not $10,000.”
