Nevada Legalizes Interstate Online Poker

Yesterday, Nevada officials passed a bill that will make interstate online poker legal. The legislation will allow Nevada to form pacts with other states passing similar legislation, allowing users to play poker legally across borders.

For a long time, the Federal Wire Act had outlawed interstate gambling, including any gambling done over the Internet. In 2011 however, the Court of Appeals ruled that this act only applied to sports betting.

Interestingly enough, Nevada was in quite a hurry to get this bill passed. The Las Vegas Sun reports that Bill AB114 was actually rushed through the system as an "emergency measure," the emergency apparently being the state wanted to make more money. The bill passed unanimously in Assembly and Senate, before being signed by governor Brian Sandova. The process took less than seven hours.

Nevada apparently wished to beat New Jersey, another gambling friendly state with similar legislation in the works, to the punch. Assembly Majority Leader William Horne expressed his state's desire to get there first saying, "We're going to do it now... We're going to beat New Jersey."

Both states hope to become online gambling hubs, with Nevada slightly ahead of the competition after the speedy passing of AB114. While Nevada still has to convince other states to partner up with it, it hopes that its existing gaming regulations will help them enter the market.

Pete Ernaut, lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association, likened the competition to the, "gaming version of the space race." I'm not entirely sure quite so much is on the line, but it could certainly net the state millions of dollars in commerce, licensing, and other fees. At the very least, it will finally allow US businesses to compete with international gambling portals, which many Americans have been using illegally for years.

Opponents of the measure have raised concerns over the reliability of age gates, credit card verification, and geo-location technology, which were not directly addressed in the bill. However, the decision does call for the state's gaming regulators to put their experience to work creating a new system of policies for the Internet marketplace.