A couple weeks ago, the State of Nevada issued the first-ever gaming license to an internet gambling company in the United States to British owned 888 Holdings. The move is seen as a major watershed in the gaming industry and speculation is high as to where this all might now lead.
888 Holdings in based in London and runs a number of online gambling sites including an online casino that they call casino-on-net.com as well as 888poker.com. When the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in 2011, 888Holdings stopped allowing residents of the United States to gamble on any of their websites.
Already this past year, the states of Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada have passed legislation allowing online gambling within their state’s borders.
Even without the U.S. business, 888 has become the fourth largest online poker site in the world. They even offer a tournament to their clients with the grand prize being an ownership stake in a real racehorse. That could be huge!
So, 888 Holdings will now be able to legally do business within the state of Nevada to operate online gaming for other Nevada based gaming companies. Caesar’s Palace was the first Las Vegas property to enter into an agreement with 888 who will now design and provide the technology for Caesar’s online poker rooms.
A little known fact is that the State of Nevada, by law, is allowed to enter into agreements with other states to provide them with online gaming. It is generally hoped that this is an indication that the tide is turning against the U.S. Government’s opposition to online gaming. Most would be in favor of going back to the idea of having each individual state settle the question of online wagering.
Now one major online gaming provider, Pokerstars.com has made a bid to purchase a struggling Atlantic City Casino… and real one with brick and mortar… bathrooms, bars and all the trimmings. To this point, that has never been done before. Pokerstars is only awaiting approval of its license to operate in that state. Pokerstars.com is the world’s largest online poker site so, you never know.
Frank Fahrenkoph, the president of the American Gaming Association (AGA) recently filed a brief opposing the application of Pokerstar’s to buy and operate a land based Casino in the state of New Jersey.
