Nevada Hammers Out Online Poker Industry DetailsRegulators Adopt Minimum Internal Control Standards for Sites |
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Nevada’s future online poker industry is taking shape, as regulators adopted the real substance to the regulations this week.
The Minimum Internal Control Standards (MICS) were finalized on Tuesday, a couple of weeks after the Technical Standards. Both help to further define the industry after the core regulatory framework was finalized in December.
Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli told Card Player on Thursday that the adoption of the two documents allows businesses to enter “concrete stages of product development.”
The MICS will become effective in late March. The industry stakeholders will have time to voice any concerns, Lipparelli said.
Lipparelli said that, taken as a whole, the standards were made to be “as flexible as possible,” since it’s unclear how companies will chose to conduct business.
However, for now, poker players can finally see how two important aspects of online poker’s rebirth in the United States will shake out.
Player Registration
Nevada online poker will likely begin as intrastate — where both residents and tourists can engage in play.
In order to initially register on an Internet poker site, players must provide their real name and any screen names they wish to use, a current residential address, date of birth, a physical address where they reside, a social security number if a United States resident and finally, an e-mail address.
However, an individual can begin playing poker, to a limited extent, for 30 days during the full-scale verification process. According to a regulation, a player can’t deposit more than $5,000 or withdraw money during this 30-day period.
A high degree of certainty can be established in “real time,” former Control Board Member and current 888 Poker attorney Mark Clayton told Card Player. The first level of scrutiny can be completed nearly instantaneously, Clayton said, with complete verification coming at a later date.
Technology solutions for player registration have yet to be flushed out, according to Clayton.
If the verification process fails, a player forfeits their winnings to the casino. The amount deposited will be refunded.
An operator may allow an individual to register either remotely or in person.
Deposits and Withdraws
A poker player cannot transfer funds to anyone else. At a Control Board hearing in November, Lipparelli said that he doesn’t want online gaming sites to serve as “shadow banking.” The general concern was that player accounts could circumvent financial institutions.
Operators will try and ensure that funds deposited via one financial institution are not withdrawn to a different financial institution.
Players can deposit into and withdraw from their online account while in person at the casino. According to Nevada regulations, only existing brick-and-mortars can operate poker sites.
Funds can be transferred between an online poker account and a casino account.
Withdraws from online poker accounts will be completed within five days.
The Next Steps
According to Lipparelli, regulators are engaged in a “normal process” toward intrastate, and possibly interstate, online gaming.
Despite the progress, regulators have been cautious with their language and haven’t given any time frame for when the first Nevada poker site will open its doors.
However, with the MICS and Technical Standards out of the way, regulators will move toward a potential licensing phase. So far, 13 companies have applied to participate in online poker, and regulators have already started to review some of the paperwork.
With online poker applications still trickling in, regulators will also be busy with crafting language for independent testing labs, which will help inspect and certify poker sites, as well as other gaming technology in the state.
Follow Brian Pempus on Twitter — @brianpempus
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