888 is next on Nevada GCB agenda
Interactive poker hopeful joins operator Treasure Island on next week's agenda.
Gibraltar-licensed gaming operator 888 will have its application to become an online poker supplier in Nevada heard by the state’s Gaming Control Board (GCB) next week.
The company has been in line for the hearing since applying for a licence last year, having entered into an agreement with Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) to provide the operator with poker software in the state. CIE has already received its operator licence and has been awaiting 888’s.
Meanwhile, Vegas hotel-casino Treasure Island will also have its application to become an online poker operator in the Silver State at the GCB meeting starting on 6 March. The company has yet to announce its software partner.
To date Nevada’s GCB and Gaming Commission have approved the application of every operator and supplier including MGM Interactive, Boyd Gaming, CIE, SHFL, Bally Technologies and IGT.
Under Nevada law 888 must now have its gaming software approved by the state’s independent test labs, a stringent process which is likely to take several months.
888 became one of the first European operators to gain a foothold in the Nevada market when its B2B arm Dragonfish signed a deal to provide poker software to CIE in 2009.
However, earlier this week the chief exec of CIE’s parent company, Gary Loveman, said the operator is likely to move away from 888 and towards Barrière for its poker software in the US in preparation to own its own platform.
CIE has been working alongside Barrière in modifying what Loveman called a “state-of-the-art” platform, with a view to a World Series of Poker-branded offering migrating from the existing 888 platform to software provided by the French operator.