On Thursday, MGM Resorts International became the latest operator in Nevada to gain approval for a real-money online poker site.

During a hearing with the Nevada Gaming Commission, the gaming giant was approved for licensure as an operator of interactive gaming systems in Nevada. The license will allow MGM to offer bwin.party’s poker platform to Nevada residents once bwin.party receives its own license as a service provider in the Silver State.

MGM Online is expected to launch a free-play online poker site in early 2013 in preparation for its real-money venture.

Last October, MGM partnered with bwin.party and Boyd Gaming ahead of legalized gambling. Under the terms of the arrangement, 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.

Bwin.party has already submitted a license application as a service provider in Nevada but isn’t likely to meet with gaming regulators until next year. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Howard Stutz, though, the NGC made it clear in Thursday’s meeting that bwin.party “isn’t a guaranteed approval” for a license in Nevada.

PartyGaming, half of the bwin.party gaming conglomerate, exited the U.S. market in 2006 following passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The company later admitted to violating U.S. laws by targeting its citizens for illegal transactions and paid a $105 million penalty to the U.S. government as part of a nonprosecution agreement.

Bwin.party made headlines this week when co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger was detained in Belgium. Teufelberger was taken in for questioning regarding bwin.party’s continued presence in the country despite lacking the necessary licenses. The Belgium Gambling Commission believes that bwin.party has been in breach of the country’s gambling legislation, but bwin.party issued a statement this week saying that the company is “acting and has always acted in compliance with applicable laws.”

If bwin.party is rejected for license approval in Nevada, MGM would be forced to look elsewhere for a service provider.

PokerNews will have more on this story as it develops. Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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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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