The company that runs the first regulated online poker site in the United States, Ultimate Gaming, this week won full regulatory approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission, after operating a "field trial" for the past ninety days, according to a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Operation under close observation in early launch period
Ultimate Gaming, which is majority-owned by Station Casinos, Inc., the operator of several land-based casinos in Nevada, launched Ultimate Poker in late April, making history in the process.
There were reports of early hiccups when the site first went live, however Ultimate Gaming now says that 9.1 million hands of poker have successfully been played on the site with few reports of problems.
Over 100,000 online poker tournaments have been played on the site in its three months of operations, according to remarks made by company officials, with only minor bugs needing to be addressed.
Now that the test period has ended, Ultimate Poker can move forward with rolling out upgrades and new features to their platform.
Chief Marketing Officer for Ultimate Poker, Joe Versaci, took to Twitter to suggest that Silver State players can expect to see upgrades very soon.
"Just a few things [left] & then we’ll push it out. I’ll give u a day when I have it, but we’re counting in days," Versaci said.
Upgrades should address commission's one concern
Once the upgrades are in place, the one concern brought up by the gaming commission should be minimized, that being that the types of games currently offered by Ultimate Poker are not as fully-developed as those operated by offshore gambling companies who have for years existed in a legal grey area.
Remarked Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard, "I saw comments that games weren’t as sophisticated as the illegal games."
Nevada first state to go live with real-money betting in the United States
Nevada is the first state to offer real-money online betting to residents, who must be at least 21 years old and also are required to be physically located within the state's borders when logging on to the wagering sites. In Nevada, only online poker is permitted.
Nevada law also provides for the state's governor, Republican Brian Sandoval, himself a former chairman of the state's gaming commission, to enter into interstate poker compacts with other states that have also green-lighted Internet wagering.
So far, only two other states in the nation fit that bill. Both Delaware and New Jersey have enacted online wagering legislation, and in both states, comprehensive online betting will be allowed. This means that a variety of online gambling sites will eventually be available to residents of these states, from online poker to classic casinos games like roulette and blackjack.
Up to this point, Ultimate Poker remains the only real-money online poker site currently operating in the state of Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware both expect to launch gambling web sites later on this fall.
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