Shuffle Master to hear Nevada fate next week
Licence application on Gaming Control Board agenda for 11 July.
Shuffle Master’s applications for egaming manufacturer and a service provider licences in Nevada will be considered by the Gaming Control Board (GCB) on Wednesday.
If recommended by the GCB, the Nevada Gaming Commission could act on its applications at its next meeting on 26 July, meaning US supplier Shuffle Master could become the third company to be awarded an egaming licence in Nevada after Bally Technologies and IGT were given the first two last month.
Paddy Power’s application for a preliminary finding of suitability for a Nevada licence will also be heard at next week’s meeting, as will the IT service provider licence application from cloud computing provider NetEffect.
Paddys, whose MD of online and technology Peter O’Donovan has revealed has invested “significant time and resources” in reaching this stage of the application process, has also withdrawn its application for former COO Breon Corcoran’s preliminary finding of suitability as a director. Corcoran, who left the company last November and will take over as Betfair’s new CEO on 1 August.
It remains unclear whether the lack of an online poker offering will affect Shuffle Master’s Nevada licence application. Both Bally and IGT can offer online poker, with Bally acquiring Chiligaming’s iGaming Platform in February this year and having integrated Winamax’s offering to the platform to power Golden Nugget’s freeplay poker offering, and IGT buying the Entraction Poker network last year.
Last week, Shuffle Master’s deal to acquire the bwin.party-owned Ongame Poker Network collapsed, whith CEO Gavin Isaacs saying this was due to the uncertain economic climate.
Despite Nevada issuing its first egaming licences to service providers last month, Isaacs also cited the slow progress of US regulation as a reason behind the collapse, explaining: “Although we believe in its eventuality, there is also uncertainty surrounding the timing of legalisation and the rollout of online poker in the US at both the state and federal levels.”