Why interstate compacts on internet gambling are important to Nevada

The news last week that the Nevada Legislature is to be asked to vote on a bill giving the governor a mandate to negotiate interstate collaboration on internet poker triggered an interesting interview with Assemblyman William Horne by the publication Card Player Friday.

Horne, who was instrumental in getting Nevada to legalise online poker back in 2011, says the rationale behind Assembly Bill 5, due for discussion during the next session of the Nevada Legislature starting February 4, is that Nevada’s population is not sufficient to build a large pool of players if online poker is confined within the state’s borders.

By partnering with other like-minded states, player liquidity can be increased, making operations more viable.

He said that Nevada regulators supported the measure.

“We don’t have the population to make online gaming possible,” Horne told Card Player, “but we do have the regulations.”

Nevada’s Gaming Commission has invested in developing an appropriate licensing, vetting and regulatory framework within which online poker can be controlled to high standards, and officials believe that this, combined with the state’s extensive experience in gambling regulation would be valuable to partnering states, saving them the effort of developing their own regimes.

A spokesman for Montreal-based Caesars Interactive Entertainment, which has already secured a Nevada online poker licence, told Card Player that interstate collaboration was essential for the success of the legalised online poker initiative.

“We applaud the foresight and initiative Nevada’s leaders are taking to create the first robust online poker business in the United States,” the spokesman commented in an email. “We believe the opportunity for state compacts will be important from both regulatory standard and liquidity standpoints.”

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