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WSOP Real-Money Nevada Online Poker Underway

Games Became Available Statewide On Thursday

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Real-money online poker in Nevada is finally running statewide for a World Series of Poker-branded online poker site utilizing a version of the software of 888 Holdings.

The product was available for all of those physically within the Silver State’s borders as of 9:19 a.m. local time. The date was announced Monday in a conference call.

The move by Caesars Entertainment Corp. comes after the firm had been predicting a summer launch date. Poker players were able to pre-register in person at the Rio Convention Center this summer. About 12,000 signed up during that time, the WSOP said.

The WSOP site joins Ultimate Poker as the only two licensed and regulated (by a U.S. state where it’s legal) online poker platforms to be taking action from Americans. Both those firms are expected to eventually offer their respective services to customers across the U.S., once authorized to do so. So far, only Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have legalized web poker.

More states will eventually join the club.

Nevada won’t only have online gaming from Caesars and Station Casinos (the owner of Ultimate Poker). Products from giants like MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts are expected to come at some point in the future. MGM has partnered with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.

The Silver State’s only real-money online gambling right now is poker, but the rules on the books allow for other games to be offered. Nevada just chose to go with poker first, perhaps because it was easiest, or perhaps because it aligned with efforts to legalize online poker federally. The industry prefers a federal regime, though those chances are likely zero nowadays.

It’s worth noting that mobile sports betting already exists Nevada.

Anyways, some poker players took to Twitter on Thursday to talk about their excitement at having the world’s premier live tournament host finally offer the online rendition of games. One of them was 2012 WSOP main event champion Greg Merson, though he couldn’t play on the site.