Nevada has identified five companies that have applied for licenses to operate when the state’s online poker market opens. CardPlayer received public records from the Nevada Gaming Control Board that identified 888 Holdings, International Game Technology (IGT), Bally Technologies, Cantor Gaming and South Point Poker as firms that have applied. All five are aiming to crack the state’s market with the vast majority applying in a similar way.
888 US Ltd is going for title of the grand daddy of them all by applying to have the manufacturer, distributor and service provider hats made up for them. IGT is aiming to be a manufacturer and service provider, with the acquisition of Swedish-based Entraction likely to help with the cause. Bally Technology wants to do the same with Vegas-based sportsbook Cantor Gaming applying as a service provider. It’s unclear as to what South Point Poker is applying for, apart from wanting to be an operator of Internet poker.
Service providers, of which all but one have applied as, are in charge of maintaining and running the poker software that will be the lifeblood of any system that eventually comes into being. There’s still no sign of any part of the bwin.party three-way with Boyd and MGM Resorts but a number of firms will wait until the regulations have been ironed out before making any hasty decisions.
Regulators are meeting just before Christmas where they’ll aim to hammer out the regulations before the deadline at the end of January arrives. By that time, the Control Board will be well on the way to approve licenses for some of the firms looking to operate and the anticipatory three-way might even come out of its bat-cave.
