Lottomatica recommended for Nevada licence
Golden Gaming also recommended - both expected to gain final approval from Nevada Gaming Commission on 24 January.
Five subsidiaries of Italian gaming company Lottomatica have been recommended for online poker licences in Nevada following a Gaming Control Board (GCB) meeting in which Golden Gaming also gained approval.
Lottomatica, the parent company of online lottery specialist GTECH G2 and slot machine manufacturer Spielo, plans to act as a supplier of online poker technology in the Silver State. However it has yet to announce a partnership with land-based casinos which, under state regulation, are the only entities able to operate poker sites. After merging Spielo International with GTECH G2 in November 2011, last month saw the combined entity rebrand as Spielo G2.
GTECH G2 signed a freeplay online poker deal in California in September 2011, providing a platform for the Barona Resort and Casino, and in October last year the software provider ran a free poker tournament in Las Vegas with the winner – Pinnacle Entertainment – receiving a freeplay system of its own as first prize.
Golden Gaming, a privately owned Nevada-based business formed by former Station Casinos COO Blake Sartini, applied for an operator licence last August.
The company is yet to reveal who it will partner with to launch online poker, however it is understood to have held talks with several software providers.
Both companies will have their applications heard by Nevada’s Gaming Commission on 24 January, and are likely to become the 18th and 19th companies to receive approval under interactive poker regulation.
In a proposed amendment to the regulations, the GCB submitted a draft bill to the state legislature last month proposing the allowance of bets to be taken from other states that have regulated egaming.
With a total population of little more than 2.7 million, there is limited scope for high liquidity in the Nevada intrastate poker market, but the ability to enter compacts with other states could help to significantly boost player numbers.