US House of Representatives Discuss Online Poker Regulation
If you think that online gambling stands in solid ground, you might be wrong; there was a debate over online poker regulation at the US House of Representatives. Do not fret however, because there were online poker related entities that predict that the legislation would turn to their favor. There were already good expectations looming over the gambling companies and they were already preparing to cater on customers craving for legal online poker services.
Mark Lipparelli, the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Board, said that Nevada was taking applications for the 2012 licenses on February 1, 2012. Nevada would be the one to handle the applications because they wanted to begin the online gaming industry, as they were the one leading in the brick and mortar gaming industry and wanted to do the same in the brand new industry. Other than that reason, Nevada has been the center of the gambling industry for decades, and most likely all the gambling experts would be looking at the statistics of having the online industry begin where it all began.
Regarding the issuance of licenses, Lipparelli said that the process of obtaining one wouldn’t be as easy as getting married in Nevada. “There are high standards that must be met by online poker operators in order to be granted a license,” he said.
He also stated that they would continue to be flexible, but they think that they have set the bar high for licensing and sustainability.
The steps of getting a license truly wouldn’t be easy; in order to get a license, online poker operators must meet Nevada’s standards of fraud prevention, player protection, privacy, gaming quality, and many others. There would also be a revolving fund of $20,000 as maintenance used for compliance investigations that will do everything to prevent bot use. As a rule, inter-account transfers wouldn’t be allowed and only one account would be allowed under the real name of the players.
Strict rules were imposed for both operators and players but this must be so in order for Nevada to become the online gambling capital of the world since it already did a good job in the brick and mortar versions and there were high expectations set upon them.
However, the US legislative system was divided in states and getting one legislation to pass for the entire country would be very difficult. There was a US Online Gaming Law Conference in Nevada where several politicians and legislators attended and asked Lipparelli if anything would contradict the UIGEA to which he responded that the UIGEA didn’t prohibit individual states from adopting different legislation within their jurisdiction.
That said, the legislation wouldn’t allow interstate online poker unless the US Federal Government adopts a similar legislation. Online poker operators who acquired their license in Nevada would be only allowed to operate within its borders and offering services outside would be illegal.
[Source: Casino Affiliate Programs]
