Nevada Online Poker to Take Another 7 to 10 Months Says Regulator: 3 More States Want In

While intrastate online poker has already been made legalized in Nevada, real money Web card rooms won’t be available for another 7 to 10 months, regulators announced during a meeting with operators and the state’s Governor on Monday.

The first licenses are expected to be issued within the next 30 to 60 days or by the end of June 2012.  Security remains a vital issue with regulators noting that another 6 to 8 months will be necessary for testing of any Internet poker site.

Concerns over fraud, underage gambling and out-of-state residents being prohibited from logging onto Nevada-regulated Web card rooms remained of paramount concern.

During Monday’s meeting it was revealed that three more states were looking at options to allow online poker player beyond their own borders.  Delaware, which was known to be exploring Web sports betting, Rhode Island and West Virginia were all studying their options.  Neither of those states are believed to have viable enough player pools to support an intrastate business model.  None of these states were on track to offer anything prior to the second quarter of 2013 either. 

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com