Despite gambling being at the forefront of society and the state’s Gaming Control Board being strict enforcers of the rules, there seems to be a contradiction growing within this gaming world. Although Nevada are strict when it comes to most gambling rules, they seem rather subdued when it comes to online gambling for money, which is deemed illegal under state law in Nevada. As well as it being illegal in Nevada, the federal government has said that it is in fact illegal in all of the United States, although the online poker community hopes this decision will be overturned in the courts.

Although Nevada took a hard line against online gambling in the beginning by making all gaming license applicants sell their stakes in online casinos, they have since been less strict. That was until Chris Moneymaker turned a $40 PokerStars satellite victory into an unofficial entry into the 2003 WSOP championship and walked away with $2.5 million in prize money. At this time the online poker industry literally exploded, and Nevada and other states seemed helpless to stop the wave of gambling online in the USA.

The online phenomenon has been responsible for improving the profile of the poker in general, both on TV and in major tournaments, with players at the WSOP rising from 839 in 2003 to over 8,000 in 2006. Although it is widely accepted that online poker should be made legal within Nevada and the rest of the USA, it does seem strange that the Gaming Control Board allows gambling venues to ally so closely with online gambling websites whilst they are still illegal in the USA.

Although a technicality, it seems that the offline promoters, such as WSOP promoter Harrah’s, get away with this by promoting the ‘dot net’ web sites rather than the ‘dot com’ ones. Most online poker sites that allow people to bet for money are ‘dot com’ sites, but have a free playing site with a ‘dot net’ suffix. Therefore the offline promoters are not in fact breaking the law by promoting the online poker sites where you can bet with money.

The Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander says that there is no problem with the ‘dot net’ distinction and that it is perfectly legal. This may be true, but many can see the obvious link with paying online sites rather than just the free ones. For instance, PokerStars alone will help to send a massive 234 players to this year’s WSOP $10,000-entry championship event. It seems that Nevada and other states are at a crossroads in terms of where they stand regarding online poker sites and their affiliations with offline promoters. Either the state authorities get tough and enforce the current law more strictly, or they wake up and realise that online poker is here to stay and that it should be legalised within the USA, where it is probably more popular than in any other country.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 25th, 2006 at 6:14 pm and is filed under Gambling, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.