MGM Grand Recommended For Nevada License
Three more companies have been recommended for a Nevada Interactive Gaming license. The three companies are MGM Resorts Online, Z4 and CAMS. The three companies passed a suitability hearing and now go before the entire Nevada Gaming Control Board on November 15th. If all companies are approved by the full board, a total of 16 companies would be licensed in the state.
MGM Resorts
MGM Resorts Online has partnered with Party.BWIN to provide their software to MGM Resorts’ players. It is expected that MGM will brand several of their popular casino properties into online poker rooms. These brands include Bellagio, MGM and Aria. Boyd Gaming is also a member of this partnership where Party.BWIN will own 65% of the company, MGM will own 25%, and Boyd Gaming will own 10%. The partnership has not yet been named. While Boyd Gaming was approved for a license last month, Party.BWIN has yet to have a hearing in front of the state’s licensing board.
Z4 LLC
Z4 is based in Las Vegas and was founded in 2012 by David Colvin. Z4 Poker has applied for an Interactive Gaming Service Provider and Manufacturer and Distributor of Interactive Gaming Systems in Nevada. According to the company’s website at Z4.com, “Z4 Poker is developing an Interactive Gaming platform to meet Nevada’s regulations governing poker. Z4’s platform will be designed to deliver any game, to any device, anywhere legally permissible.”
CAMS LLC
CAMS is be a service provider that will assist site operators and software companies with security and payment processing. This includes verifying player identities, age, location and detecting payment processing fraud. The company is based in Los Angeles.
Nevada Poker to Launch in 2013?
In other Nevada online poker news, the Nevada Gaming Control Board sent a letter to all potential online poker license applicants Thursday. The subject of the letter was “Revisions to the CPA Guidelines and MICS Compliance Checklists and to the Internal Audit Guidelines and Compliance Checklists for Interactive Gaming”. The deadline for public comments is November 7th and a meeting will be held on November 13th if there are any suggestions that need to be addressed. While most of this is just a formality, there is a hint in the letter about when online poker in Nevada might start. These guidelines would go into effect on January 1, 2013. This seems to make it likely that online poker in Nevada will not be live in 2012 like was originally planned by operators such as South Point Poker. That group optimistically announced a Fall 2012 launch time for their Nevada online poker room. It appears that this will not happen.
There has been a lot of speculation that online poker in Nevada is on hold until after this session of Congress ends on January 3, 2013. This would give the federal government a chance to pass online poker regulations during the lame duck session which could change the plan for Nevada going forward.
