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The world’s largest free-to-play online poker site, Zynga, has applied for a Nevada online poker site that the company said could take up to a year before they are up and running to accept real money from US customers, or at least those in the state of Nevada.
Federal legislation currently prohibits online poker websites from offering their real money services, however, both Nevada and Delaware have passed laws allowing their residents to play intrastate online poker. These and other states could eventually enter into compacts similar to that of the US lottery Powerball business model.
Chief Revenue officer Barry Cottle issued this statement on Wednesday:
Zynga has filed its Application for a Preliminary Finding of Suitability from the Nevada Gaming Control Board. This filing continues our strategic effort to enter regulated RMG markets in a prudent way. We anticipate that the process will take approximately 12 to 18 months to complete. As we’ve said previously, the broader U.S. market is an opportunity that’s further out on the horizon based on legislative developments, but we are preparing for a regulated market. We’ve also recently partnered with bwin.party to bring the highest quality real money gaming experiences to our UK players in the first half of 2013.
Zynga Inc. shares rose $.07 or 3.1 percent, to $2.32 on Wednesday prior to this news breaking after closing.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
