Thursday was a historic day for online gambling in the United States as Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada signed legislation for his state to legalize online gambling. When most Americans are used to laws taking months or years of debate and posturing, it surprised many that Nevada was able to pass the bill through the House and Senate in one day. The reason for the emergency measure, Nevada wanted to be the first state to pass the legislation and were worried that New Jersey would beat them to it.
If you haven’t been following state politics, and we don’t blame you, New Jersey has been debating passing a measure to legalize online gambling. Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed the Bill twice, most recently in recent weeks however he said that with a few amendments that he’d approve legislation, even as early as next week. That caught the attention of Nevada so they made sure to pass their own legislation. Sandoval called it “an historic day for the great state of today I sign into law the framework that will usher in the next frontier of gaming in Nevada.”
You might ask whether it makes a difference, other than the symbolic nature, of being the first state to legalize online gambling but it doesn’t. However that didn’t prevent Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, a Democrat from Las Vegas, from making a jab at their gambling state rival. “As to our competitor, New Jersey, they should be accustomed to following Nevada,” he said.
The bill, AB114, gives Nevada the authority to enter into compacts with other states to offer Internet poker. The specifics of those parameters are not yet known as gambling regulators will now come up with regulations. These parameters will be vital to the success of online poker for Nevada as anyone who knows about poker, understands that liquidity is paramount to the success. Nevada’s population of 2.7 million people doesn’t give them much of a player base to pull from.
Other details of interest is that they settled on a licensing fee of $500,000 which is half the million dollars that Horne suggested in the original draft. Renewal fees are set at $250,000. Many governments see online gambling as a huge boost to their coffers, however they must still make it feasible for companies to be profitable. Worldwide there has been instances in France particularly where taxes made it near impossible for companies to survive and as such revenues were way down.
If Nevada can sign on other larger states before New Jersey works out deals than they might have something. Although this legislation is fairly symbolic, there’s still a long way to go. In the meantime, stay sharp with poker rooms that still accept US players.
