Nevada Internet Poker Bill On Track

Nevada’s poker bill remains on track as Assembly politicians contemplated a revised version which will aid intrastate poker, but requested that Congress must decide on internet casinos that will accept out-of-state and foreign based players.

Assembly Bill 258 has been passed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee without any hiccups, with committee chair and bill sponsor William Horne telling Card Player that: “The parties approved that intranet poker is also on the cards and the Nevada Gaming Commission is going to license internet poker, before federal regulation takes place.”

The revised bill prohibits Nevada from regulating or taxing out-of-state play pending federal laws which is applicable to internet poker were in place or the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had given Nevada the green light.

It would appear that Horne’s comments contradicts an earlier report in the Las Vegas Sun that the Committee permitted a revised permitting the Nevada Gaming Commission to start setting up that would regulate internet poker, however it also decided that internet casinos would not be allowed in Nevada “until it has been approved by Congress or the Justice Department.”

Horne’s conciliation was brokered after Governor Sandoval send him a letter and in it he stated that while he supported “the Legislature by taking the first plunge by means of setting-up Nevada’s first internet poker regulatory framework”, it is also “important that in future every bill sent to him must not create problems between state and federal law on this issue”.

In the letter Sandoval wrote: “Before the bill is lifted I hope that any bill passed will not smooth the improvement of the legalization of internet poker or persuade any action that would hinder the United States Congress’s efforts towards legalising it.” To conclude, Sandoval wrote: “I would ask that any bill pertaining to this subject motivates Congress to pass legislation providing for the licensure of internet poker as it deems necessary.”

Certain provisions that knee halter out-of-state and foreign play has been removed, said Horne, it’s up to the assembly to vote for the bill now. If the assembly gives the go-ahead the Senate will then decide.