http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013...a-legislature/
The cliffs:
- The bill was passed today as an "emergency measure" to go to Governor Sandoval to sign.
- It would repeal a Nevada state law that required waiting for federal action on the online poker issue before allowing online poker to legally take place between Nevada residents.
- It would allow for "interstate cooperation" with other states allowing legalized online poker, such as New Jersey. This would expand the player base beyond Nevada's relatively small population. Clearly they are hoping that California gets into the mix at some point.
- It would set the licensing fee at $500,000, but allow it to be adjusted to anywhere between $150,000 and $1,000,000 in the future.
- A license would only be granted to "a resort hotel that holds a nonrestricted license to operate games and gaming devices". This basically means that only existing Nevada casinos can run such online rooms.
- Any companies that participated in illegal online gambling between 2006 and 2011 (such as Pokerstars) will be ineligible to offer games for a period of 5 years. This likely includes if Pokerstars buys a Las Vegas casino and tries to apply for a license.
- Only poker will be allowed. There will be no sportsbetting or casino games on these sites.
This is a good development.
I said a long time ago that the path the federal legalization will be successful state legalization. If Nevada, New Jersey, and some other states combine to provide online poker legally and are successful in doing so, there will be a lot more pressure on the US government to allow it on a federal level.
The article does not mention the last legalization bill that allowed casinos such as South Coast and Stratosphere to prepare to offer online poker, but I am guessing that this got stalled because of the provision that required some sort of federal action on online poker's legality first. That restriction will be removed from this bill.
The cooperation with other states is very important. A Nevada-only room will be a complete failure.
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Originally Posted by zealanddonk
