Two more companies have submitted information in order to become testing labs for Nevada’s regulated online poker market. Card Player is reporting that both Gaming Laboratories International and BMM Compliance have submitted paperwork to become approved testing centers once the online poker market comes to fruition. The news comes even though regulations for testing houses have yet been approved.
Legislation pertaining to testing houses will have to be approved before any of the rules are set out. That means yet another alteration of Nevada gaming regulation 14 covering new game technology. Companies being approved must be entirely independent of casino operators and cannot have a financial interest in any companies they do business with. Testing houses can’t have any involvement in game development and companies should demonstrate they’re “technically competent.”
Regulations on who can work for labs are also extremely stringent. Anyone that has a “notorious and unsavory” reputation or ties to organized crime won’t be allowed to work within a testing lab. In order to change the rules for independent testing labs the Gaming Control Board first works with stakeholders in order to investigate the best course of action. Rules are then written and then poured over by a three-member Board. Public workshops vet the changes before they’re sent to the Gaming Commission for approval. These regulations currently sit before the workshop phase with one being held on February 22 in Sin City.
It’s been reported that so far, 13 firms have applied to set up an online poker site once the market opens, whenever that may be. We contacted both GLI and BMM for comment but neither had gotten back to us by the time this article went online.
