New Jersey and Nevada talking about shared player pools

The governors of New Jersey and Nevada have discussed the prospects for shared online poker player pools, according to a report in the usually reliable Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The Journal reports that New Jersey governor Chris Christie confirmed via a tweet Monday that he’s had discussions with Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval on the subject.

The two states already enjoy limited cooperation in gambling through shared land slot prize pools.

The discussions are the latest development in a series of moves that has seen the three US states that have so far passed laws legalising online gambling, Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, collaborate.

Nevada has already reached an agreement to share player pools with Delaware, an arrangement that will likely be implemented late 2014 or early 2015.

However, New Jersey is by a substantial margin the most populous of the three states, and its involvement would represent the biggest impact.

Analysts have long opined that sharing players is the best way forward for the online poker vertical in the legally fragmented US environment.

Should an agreement between Nevada and New Jersey emerge, it would likely also embrace the small Delaware market already agreed with Nevada.

Online Poker Report’s Chris Groves raised a very pertinent question this week on the subject – how will the three states ensure they have regulatory harmony?

The fly in the ointment there is likely to be Nevada’s pre-UIGEA “bad actor” provisions, something with which Delaware and New Jersey have not encumbered themselves.

That could impact the acceptability of both operators and software providers from a Nevada perspective and create complications.