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MGM Online, Z4Poker and Cams LLC of Los Angeles
Issued With Nevada Online Poker Licenses




Author: Neha Agrawal


It is finally happening and quite a number of potential online poker operators have been issued with licenses to legally function in Nevada. The latest in this line up are MGM Online, Z4Poker of Las Vegas and Cams LLC of Los Angeles. While the end of 2012 is drawing close and I don’t expect to see these or any other Nevada ops come live online before the New Year, the point is that things seem to be moving forwards at a steady pace.

MGM Online LLC is a well-known brand, while Z4Poker LLC of Las Vegas is basically a boutique firm, and Cams LLC of Los Angeles is a very new name to us all, but obviously the Nevada Gaming commission believes they deserve a license. So far licenses in this state are geared to allow only online poker.

Probably the most bizarre thing about these Nevada Internet Poker licenses is that they only allow players to compete within the confines of the state. By its very nature the Internet allows businesses to ply their trade without border, so, this situation may allow these operators to get a foot in the door in the short-term, but will not prove to be very profitable in the long-term.

Let’s just explain this a little more - online poker rooms make most of their money from rake-back. This means taking a small share of the pot as a fee for providing these games, which is fair enough. Obviously the more players at the website the more money there is in the pots, and the more money the online poker operator is able to make. This situation is referred to as “liquidity”.

As only state-wide players are able to enter into these poker games, liquidity will not be anything like it needs to be to show any meaningful promise. So, what the industry really needs is laws, and regulations at federal level to tap into the online poker revenue stream of the entire USA, as well as internationally.

The current Federal bill under review is the Reid/Kyl Bill; this potential act also does not allow for international online poker participation. It is extremely short-sighted, but we think that the reason for this is because the US also does not want foreign poker operators plying their internet trade in the USA. Again this is beyond extremely short-sighted, and borders on stupidity.

The internet is not going away, neither is online poker, and people quite frankly are getting sick and tired of having their freedom of information rights interfered with because of Government greed.