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Ohio has become the latest state exploring its options to allow residents of the Buckeye State the opportunity to play “real money” Internet poker.
“We’re exploring this topic,” Dennis Berg, interim director of the Ohio Lottery Commission, told The Cincinnati Business Journal on Wednesday. “We want to be in the forefront of being able to generate revenue for the lottery commission. But it’s a policy decision that we will not make on our own.”
Berg made it clear that consultation with the Governor’s Administration would be necessary, however. He offered no timeline for when a decision would be made.
Ohio is the 7th most populous state in the US with approximately 11.5 million people, which is comparable to that of the population of Greece.
Meanwhile, Nevada announced it will begin offering private testing labs as a means of inspecting and certifying online poker sites for “real money” play. Nevada became the first state in the union to legalize Internet poker within state borders though many experts believe the state, with its nominal population, will look to become a hub of sorts for a multi-state model similar the state lottery system’s PowerBall.
The US Justice Department revealed last month it would no longer apply The Wire Act to poker, thus allowing individual states to legalize the activity without fear of federal obstacles.
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
