Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2014 Edition

131 Sponsored by Visit iGamingPocketDirectory.com for more information. JURISDICTIONS UNITE S ATE As of press time, Nevada has two online poker rooms operating in the state. Ultimate Poker launched in April 2013 and WSOP.com launched in September 2013. Until a third operator joins the market, Ultimate Poker and WSOP.com are not required to disclose their earnings and other information in regulatory filings, so it’s tough to gauge their success. However, as of press time, WSOP.com is averaging about 110 cash game players (based on a seven-day average) and Ultimate Poker is averaging about 90 cash game players, according to PokerScout. Online gaming companies in Nevada, by law, are only allowed to offer online poker. The road to permitting intrastate online gambling has been a long and winding one. The chief obstacle to intrastate online gambling has been the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) interpretation of the Wire Act. The Wire Act was enacted in 1961 to prevent bookmakers from accepting sports bets over the telephone. But for years, the DOJ maintained the Wire Act prohibited all forms of Internet gambling, while online gaming proponents maintained the Wire Act only applied to sports betting. The DOJ’s position prevented the domestic growth of online gaming in the US, although jurisdictions outside the US offered real-money play to American residents. But in 2011, the DOJ reversed its long-held position that all forms of online gambling were illegal because they violated the Wire Act. In a letter released on December 23, 2011, the DOJ said the law applied only to sports betting, and intrastate gaming outside of sports betting did not violate the law. Gambling across state borders, say between poker players in California and Nevada, remained illegal, according to the DOJ. 2011 also saw the DOJ indict the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/UB. The charges, most of which have been settled, resulted in the forfeitures of hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and assets, the sale of Full Tilt to PokerStars, the closing of Absolute/UB, and the withdrawal of PokerStars and Full Tilt from the US market. In addition to shutting down the US operations of the most popular online poker sites, the DOJ indictments convinced many operators to shut down their US-facing operations, clearing the way for a strictly regulated domestic marketplace to emerge in the US. Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey stepped into the void in the marketplace and began regulating online gaming. In 2013, Nevada – which already had standing online gaming legislation – passed into law language that allows it to sign compacts with other states to build player liquidity. Essentially, if Nevada signs a compact with a state, players on Nevada online poker networks will have access to players on poker networks in the other state, and vice versa. In June 2012, Delaware authorized online gambling in response to expanded brick-and-mortar casino gambling in Maryland and Pennsylvania. And in February 2013, New Jersey signed into law online gambling legislation in an effort to help Atlantic City casinos. Delaware’s online casino is operated by the Delaware Lottery, with players signing up through local casinos and racinos. New Jersey’s online casinos are operated by casinos running brick-and-mortar operations in Atlantic City. Internet gambling on horse racing is permitted by the Interstate Horse Racing Act in states that have chosen to regulate such wagering. There is also a specific exemption for horse racing carved out in the UIGEA, which was passed in 2006.