November 01 2012, PokerNews Staff

On Thursday, MGM Resorts International moved one step closer toward offering legalized intrastate online poker in Nevada. In a hearing with the three-member Nevada Gaming Control Board, MGM received preliminary approval to offer real-money online poker as an operator. The gaming giant, which will use bwin.party’s poker platform, is expected to launch a free-play online poker site in early 2013.

MGM will seek final license approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission later this month.

“We are encouraged to know that states are talking to one another,” MGM CEO Jim Murren told Reuters on Wednesday. “They are crafting their own legislation and legal frameworks but are talking with other states in anticipation of compacting with multiple states.

“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.”

Last October, MGM partnered with bwin.party and Boyd Gaming in anticipation of legalized gambling. As part of the joint venture, bwin.party will own 65 percent of the company for providing and maintaining the software for both gaming companies. MGM will hold 25 percent ownership and Boyd will own 10 percent.

Boyd Gaming received its interactive gaming license last month. Bwin.party has submitted license application but has yet to meet with gaming regulators.

“For many years it was a question of if the U.S. government – either at a federal or state level – would regulate online gaming,” Bwin.party co-CEO Jim Ryan said in an early-2012 interview with PokerNews. “We don’t think that’s the case anymore. We think it’s a question of when.”

Chris Sieroty, a gaming reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, indicated that bwin.party’s license would be considered after the new year.

*Picture courtesy of msnbcmedia.msn.com.

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August 08 2012, Brett Collson

The South Point Casino’s aim to become the first legalized intrastate online poker room in Nevada took a giant step on Wednesday. In a hearing with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, South Point received preliminary approval to offer real-money online poker as an operator, manufacturer and service provider.

South Point will now seek final license approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission on Aug. 23.

South Point CEO Mark Gaughan told eGaming Review last month that his real-money online poker site would be the first to launch in Nevada. Gaughan predicted his site would be ready to launch as early as September, but an attorney for the company said on Wednesday that the site could be up and running by October.

Once the company receives a license later this month, it will need to complete the inspection process of its technology before it can offer real-money online poker. The developer of South Point’s online poker system said Wednesday that the site’s technology could reach the second level of approval by an independent testing lab this month, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Howard Stutz.

South Point has been running a free-to-play online poker room at SouthPointPoker.com since late last year, but Gaughan says the real-money site will have new software.

Gaming suppliers IGT, Bally Technologies and Shuffle Master were the first companies to receive licenses to act as service providers for Internet poker operators in Nevada. However, because South Point’s poker platform will run internally, it will get the jump on other providers that will have to wait up to six months for their technologies to be tested by the board and the state. The suppliers will also need to line up partnerships with Nevada casino operators to provide online poker within state lines.

Monarch Interactive, another one of the 30-plus companies that applied for online poker licensing in Nevada, also received approval from the gaming board on Wednesday.

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