MGM receives Nevada recommendation
Nevada Gaming Commission expected to award online poker licence on 15 November " Z4Poker and CAMS also approved.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB) has approved the online poker licence application of MGM Resorts Online with the operator expected to complete the process at a Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) meeting on 15 November.
Z4Poker’s application was also recommended, as well as service provider CAMS, which has been approved to offer geo-location, player verification and payment processing services.
MGM, which posted a US$181.2m net loss in third quarter results this week, told regulators it would set up a freeplay poker site by March 2013, with a view to offering a real-money product once bwin.party is licensed. MGM already has a social game on Facebook, myVegas, which was launched in August.
MGM is the second of bwin.party’s US-facing partners to be on the GCB agenda after Boyd Gaming obtained a recommendation from the board and was granted a licence by the Nevada Gaming Commission last week. At the meeting, newly appointed GCB chairman A.G Burnett confirmed that bwin.party’s application was currently being investigated and will be on the GCB’s agenda next year.
During an analyst call this morning announcing bwin.party’s Q3 numbers, co-CEO Jim Ryan said he expects the process to reach a conclusion in “the first half of 2013″ adding that if he could “wave a magic wand” he would “love to see federal regulation”.
Meanwhile, MGM CEO Jim Murren yesterday told Reuters this week that MGM and other major casinos also favour federal legislation, but added “we feel strongly that if it is in fact state-by-state, the states themselves need to compact with one another to create a more viable business model. Any one state going on its own presents an economic challenge, particularly in a small state like Nevada.”
Z4Poker has applied to be a manufacturer and distributer of its interactive gaming system, as well as a service provider. Co-owner David Colvin told the GCB it was looking to market its poker system to smaller casinos that cannot afford to develop their own.
CAMS, founded earlier this year, is a subsidiary of global electronic payment company Verifi. If it receives its licence this month, CAMS would become the first company licensed to offer geolocation services for online poker in the Silver State, as well as the second to offer payment processing services after Global Cash Access.
Yesterday’s meeting was the first to be held since Burnett took over from Mark Lipparelli as chairman of the GCB. New GCB member Terry Johnson did not participate following his appointment earlier this month as his term begins on 12 November.