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Online poker site rules approved
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Bill Hughes/Review-Journal
Andrea Balkan of Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners speaks to the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday at the Sawyer Building. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday adopted rules that would let companies apply for licenses to operate poker websites in the state.
The new rules, which were approved unanimously, are designed to put the state in a position to capitalize on the lucrative online poker business, should Congress overturn the ban on Internet gambling and allow online poker to be played across state lines.
"We estimate the U.S. online poker market at $5 billion in revenue, relative to the current $24 billion global Internet gaming market and (the) $33 billion commercial casino market in the U.S.," Union Gaming Group analyst Bill Lerner wrote in a research report. "In our opinion, the commercialization of online poker is a 2013 event."
Lerner said from a commercial perspective, online poker within Nevada's borders will be marginal, however, "structurally it will become an important model for other states to follow."
However, Nevada's regulations would allow the state's casino companies to operate Internet poker sites limited to players within its borders. Some of the sites could be up and running by the end of 2012.
Several companies have already applied to be licensed once regulations are ready.
Gaming equipment manufacturers, such as International Game Technology, Bally Technologies and Cantor Gaming, and casino operators, including Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Boyd Gaming Corp., have submitted proposals.
According to the regulations, companies with other Nevada licenses would have the new title attached to their licenses while companies new to Nevada would be vetted with full licensing investigations, which usually take several months.
Licensed gaming companies seeking online poker licenses will have to prove that their technology will be able to limit play to state residents of a legal age. The guidelines approved Thursday were mandated by the state Legislature's approval of Assembly Bill 258 earlier this year, which dictated that Internet poker regulations be established by Jan. 31.
Online poker sites are also required to establish procedures to detect money laundering, fraud or other criminal activities, and to establish a cash reserve to complement money deposited by customers in their accounts.
Nevada regulators also approved operator use of a celebrity player for marketing purposes to attract players to a particular poker website, and included rules for finding of entity suitability, technology approvals, audit and record keeping, and customer enrollment.
They also spell out regulatory oversight of internal controls by the online gaming companies and establish a disciplinary process for regulatory violations.
The Gaming Commission spent about 90 minutes discussing the regulations and taking public opinions Thursday before approving the package of rules by a 4-0 vote. Commissioner John Moran Jr. did not attend Thursday's meeting.
Representatives from the gaming industry applauded the vote despite online poker being illegal in the United States.
The federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 still prohibits companies from accepting payments related to online wagering, but allows several exceptions, including intrastate wagering and fantasy sports.
In other business, the commission recommended Ronald Paul Johnson's appointment as a receiver to oversee the gaming operations at the Las Vegas Hilton, soon to be called the LVH-Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.
Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez recently appointed Johnson as the receiver for the nongaming operations at the struggling property. The Las Vegas Hilton is owned by Colony Resorts LVH Acquisitions LLC, but its lenders, Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co. and Gramercy Capital Corp., are seeking to foreclose on the property.
Gramercy Capital Chief Operating Officer Robert Foley said the lenders were seeking to take over the property to keep it running. The Hilton runs a cash flow deficit, and since July the lenders have pumped more than $36 million into the property to fund operations, he said.
Meanwhile, the gaming commission approved BREF HR LLC, a division of Brookfield Financial of New York City, as the new owner and Warner Gaming Inc. as the operator of the Hard Rock Hotel. Andrea Balkan, a controlling owner of the new parent company, told regulators that the changes in ownership had reduced the property's outstanding debt to $842 million from $1.3 billion.
Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard voted in favor of the deal, but expressed his concern that there was "still a lot of debt on the property." He said after looking at the deal's debt structure that "there is a pretty good chance of a return" on their investment.
Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
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Russ Hamilton just lit up a big Cigar and called all his pals and said the game is on.
With the DOJ now saying Internet Poker is not part of the Wire Act. Mexico can enter the US market and Nevada has no Jurisdiction over a Governments Legal gambling site. California now will have internet Blackjact from Mexico. The DOJ ruling opens the country up for all gambling as long as its not Sports.
Legal age for Internet Gambling will be 18 so UNLV and University of Nevada Students are now legal to move about the World Playing Poker and Blackjack thanks to the DOJ and Mexico.
The Nevada Gaming Commission is a puppet commission for the casinos. Their interest is purely in appeasing the oligarchy of the state and upon concluding their respective terms jumping back in bed with them (i.e. law firm representation, VP positions, etc.). Gamblers' safe guards and gambling fairness are just talk. Now, can one call Texas Hold 'em-Texas Hold 'em when played online? Of course not, it is a non-contact sport, a game of body language--one of intense interactive physical observation. Online its more or less a video slot table. Nothing like a drunk in his or her PJ's maxing out the family income while a group of cheats game the table. Who has an interest in all this--"the stakeholders" (money hungry people): 1. Our highly leveraged amoral LV based casinos looking for a quick buck; 2. Pro poker players looking for sponsorships; 3. Legislators anticipating campaign funding from the above cited parties and on a state level anticipating a nice VP job with one of our highly leverage LV based casinos. Take a look at the casinos partnership structures if the deal goes national/international all will be offshore--not a server in the US and not a dent in employment. Even if it goes purely intrastate there are still many interstate commerce obstacles to maneuver around if at all possible. Kill this stupid gambling concept--just go to the casino.
logically all minimum age restrictions for b&m casinos should also be 86'd. the real world casinos can eyeball the patrons and all casino employees tasked with assuring that minimum age compliance. notice that the trend in televised poker shows is for accomplished/featured table players to be younger, occasionally mere days after reaching 21. the brighter side is that in effect permitting children to gamble, they could be started earlier. why should one believe that teenagers can't also successfully compete ? aren't there university diploma'd teenagers ?
cheating IS possible and likely on single table games however THAT kind of cheating and collusion is not so threatening in large field tournaments....the only remedy that could be applied is a stiff MANDATORY jail term for anybody caught and proven to be colluding and cheating....problem is, catching and proving.....but reality is that collusion is and always has been a credible threat and without safeguards and strict penalties it will always be present......maybe a large reward to whistle blowers upon a proven case would be a good tool....and upon conviction it should be a felony for that person to engage in any more online games in the future.....with strict penalties including prison.
To tack on to ecko1885's post. I've watched two professional poker players on two computers sitting side-by-side,one wired, one on a portable wifi device play the same table. I can't see how any software can prevent this.
TheBrain is 100% correct in what he's saying. He's one of the few people that knows there is no ban on internet gambling. The UIGEA isn't worth the paper it's printed on. The US government has zero authority over any gaming site that is licensed and chartered in sovereign or offshore territories. The World Trade Organization ruled against the US in this matter several years ago but the US has chosen to ignore the ruling. Any state that wanted to could set up gambling sites this afternoon and start taking bets and there's not a thing the government could do about it as long as their servers and license were located outside the US. Nevada gaming companies could and should start internet poker right now and then tell the federal governmant where to go.
When did this current JOKE of a gaming board sell out to the casinos? This is a pathetic. New Jersey will become the new gaming control standard and how sad is that? Online poker is a cheating extravaganza. Impossible to guarantee under age players won't be involved and impossible to prevent blatant collusion and cheating. What have these idiots on the control board been smoking/drinking/dropping?
The Brain (or should I say SAP) You play in the highest rake rooms in town and call your self a PLAYER, peoplle like you are the reason why Caesars Entertainment can get away with raking 70 million dollars out of the WSOP and you think it is all right, You think you have many answers,in reality you are a TOP sucker, Money must have been handed down to you or you work for the newspaper, because you are clueless.
Hey Brain, are you a lawyer/poker pro/lobbyist/casino exec? GD man, you don't know squat! Take your sausage fingers & get lost I'd love to play you HU online. You need collusion to win you puke. Tfg owns you!