MGM, Boyd File For Another Web Poker Extension

MGM, Boyd and Golden Nugget have all officially filed to get another extension on their respective Internet poker plans in Nevada.

The firms — which were all approved for Internet gambling last fall — appeared on the agenda for the October meeting of the state’s three-member Gaming Control Board.

According to the rules on the book in Nevada, firms apparently must move forward with their business plans within six months of being approved for the activity by state regulators. However, given the extensive testing and preparation that is needed to debut Internet gambling some firms have elected to apply for some more time. Regulators are OK with that.

There’s also the issue of liquidity.

Nevada doesn’t have a large population to work with for online poker, so some firms may be waiting for the market to open up thanks to a partnership with another jurisdiction. Nevada’s rules state that such agreements can be brokered in the future. It is a matter of when, not if.

So far, only Ultimate Poker — an offshoot of Station Casinos — and the World Series of Poker — which is under the umbrella of ownership of Caesars Entertainment Corp. — have begun offering online poker in the Silver State. Their respective products have seen a steady turnout, but far from what they would want going forward. Online poker thrives on a large player pool.

New Jersey is set to kick off its online gambling industry in late November, and the Garden State is very likely, barring a catastrophic event for the industry, one of the future partners for Nevada. Delaware has targeted this month for its web versions of casino games, but it’s unclear if that state will team up with either Nevada or New Jersey. It has just 917,000 residents.

Both MGM and Boyd have a deal with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment for the latter firm to run the back-end of the product. Golden Nugget is working with Bally Technologies.

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