April 30, 2013
by Ken Smith
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In a history making moment earlier today, the first-ever hand was dealt in a US-regulated online poker room. Station Casinos and UltimatePoker.com in Nevada won the race to be the first US operator to enter the newly regulated US market.
UltimatePoker.com opened for business at 9 AM Pacific time, dealing cash games, tournaments, and sit-n-gos for registered players inside the state of Nevada.
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September 25, 2012
by Ken Smith
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With the ink hardly dry on the company’s new licensure as an approved Nevada interactive gaming operator, ACEP Interactive, LLC has signed a deal with Bally Technologies to use the Bally’s iGaming platform for the company’s properties. ACEP Interactive is the online gaming subsidiary of American Casino and Entertainment Properties, LLC, which operates four Southern Nevada land-based casinos: Stratosphere and the two Arizona Charlie’s locations in Vegas, and the Aquarias in Laughlin.
ACEP CEO Frank Riolo says in the press release “This partnership with Bally will allow us to establish a play-for-free poker site by the end of the year, which we plan to use to further enhance our brands and enable us to be poised to launch a real money poker site at such a time as permitted.”
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September 22, 2012
by Ken Smith
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IGT’s DoubleDown Casino is slowly expanding the roster of games at the site, although the pace still seems too slow to make the product compelling anytime soon. Since my initial review of the site was posted, they have added two new slot titles and a new Bingo area.
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September 5, 2012
by Ken Smith
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IGT, producer of the DoubleDown play-for-fun site, has announced a new deal with Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas to offer the company’s online free-play casino for visitors to the Hard Rock’s website. This marks IGT’s first contract with a Las Vegas land-based property for the game platform. In IGT’s press release about the arrangement, the company says “IGT’s DoubleDown Casino provides players with exciting casino style game play online, with access to the full roster of games including Da Vinci Diamonds® and Cleopatra® slots, as well as multi-player poker. Other well-known and proven IGT slot games and an exhilarating new Bingo game are slated to arrive soon on the DoubleDown Casino.”
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August 28, 2012
by Ken Smith
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Last week, the Nevada Gaming Control Board issued the first licenses for online poker operators in Nevada, with Michael Gaughan’s South Point Poker LLC poised to cross the finish line first with a real-money gambling product available to state residents. South Point is already in the second phase of testing of the poker software platform that they developed in-house. A spokesman for the casino indicates that after additional inspections, they hope to launch the games in October.
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August 21, 2012
by Ken Smith
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As several states in the US move toward legal and regulated online gambling, it’s no surprise to see the world’s largest slot manufacturer vying for a spot at the table. IGT recently launched a Play-For-Fun casino site called DoubleDown Casino, and they have already announced several partnerships with land-based casinos to offer the game suite on the casinos’ websites.
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July 30, 2012
by Ken Smith
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In the conference call following their earnings announcement last week, the CEO of social gaming provider Zynga announced to investors that the company plans to enter the real-money online gambling market as soon as the first half of next year.
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June 28, 2012
by Ken Smith
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The swell of online gambling legislation in the US reached a new milestone today as Delaware governor Jack Markell signed a bill legalizing online casino-style gambling within the state. Delaware and Nevada are the only states so far to pass legislation to license and regulate Internet casinos, although other states are at various stages of progress pursuing the same goal. Now the race is on to see which state will be first to actually launch real-money games and take the first legal and regulated online bet in the States.
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May 27, 2012
by Ken Smith
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Too many exclamation points? Maybe. I guess I was overwhelmed by the example of Maryland Live! casino’s brand name, punctuation included.
It is a development worthy of exclamation though, as Maryland Live! casino’s MyLiveOnlineCasino.com site is the first Internet casino with its player management system linked directly to a US land-based casino. The virtual casino, open for a month now, is strictly a play-for-fun model but it appears to be only a flip of the switch away from the capability of real money wagering if and when true online gambling is approved in Maryland.
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May 21, 2012
by Ken Smith
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MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren revealed plans by the casino company to launch an online casino-themed game by June. Speaking at the Southern Gaming Summit earlier this month in Biloxi, Murren stated that the game will launch as a cashless site, but “it will have the possibility of converting to online cash casino applications should that be legal.”
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