Two weeks after their online poker license applications were approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB), South Point Poker, Monarch Interactive and Global Cash Access Holdings all received final approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) on Thursday. South Point gets the historical bragging rights as the first to be granted Nevada online poker operator privileges, and South Point COO Lawrence Vaughan told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he was “optimistic” that the real-money online poker offering would go live “sometime in October.” South Point has been operating free-play poker online since October 2011, and is unique among Nevada’s online poker wannabes in that it boasts its own in-house software, which is why it was simultaneously granted interactive gaming manufacturer and service provider licenses as well. The real-money software is different from the Zen Gaming software utilized on South Point’s free-play site, which South Point owner Michael Gaughan disparaged last month as “complicated and hard to load.”
Reno-headquartered Monarch was also granted an online poker operator’s license, although the company has no software and no firm deal with another company to provide such software. Las Vegas-based Global Cash Access, which supplies ATMs and other cash services to land-based casinos and hopes to provide similar money-moving services to Nevada’s online poker operators, saw its bid for an interactive gaming service provider license approved. Nevada has previously awarded service provider licenses to Bally Technologies, International Game Technology and Shuffle Master.
Player Verify has become the latest to apply for a Nevada interactive service provider license. The company is seeking to assist online poker operators in collecting detailed personal information from their customers to satisfy regulatory Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, while utilizing encryption technology to keep that data safe from unauthorized eyes. Player Verify also provides centralized databases for player exclusion and real-time fraud reporting.
Cantor Gaming, the offshoot of Wall Street traders Cantor Fitzgerald that operates sportsbooks at seven Nevada casinos, is awaiting its own interactive gaming service provider license hearing before Nevada regulators. In the meantime, Cantor has released an iOS version of its mobile betting app. The Android version has been in use since October 2011, and now the Cantor Sports Book app will bring mobile betting (within Nevada borders) to iPhone and iPad fanboys who open an account (in person) at any of Cantor’s Nevada race and sportsbooks. Cantor recently launched a WiFi version of its sportsbook for Nevada residents who either have no access to 3G or 4G mobile technology or who simply prefer to bet via their desktop or laptop computer.
