Bally Technologies Becomes Nevada’s First Licensed Online Poker Site: Will Hill Still Shut Out
Bally Technologies, which earlier in the year partnered up with France online poker venture Chili Gaming, has been granted the first license to operate a Web poker site by the state of Nevada. For now the fee is $125,000 but could be reduced at a later date.
On Wednesday, the Nevada Gaming Control Board agreed to allow Bally Technologies, Inc. to run intrastate online poker. Bally will not be permitted to accept players from outside the state of Nevada at this time, however.
“Nevada is ready to go. Bally is ready to go,” said Mark Lerner, an attorney for the company.
Chili Poker is a well-regarded European Web poker venture started by Internet entrepreneur Alexandre Dreyfus in 2006.
International Game Technology’s application to run online poker will be reviewed by the Nevada Gaming Control Board on Thursday.
William Hill, the UK’s largest bookmaking establishment, appears to be having the roughest time with Nevada regulators, as Gambling911.com has widely reported in recent months.
The company shut down its Australian website in hopes of appeasing the Gaming Board in light of recent controversies that have cropped up following Hill’s acquisition of American Wagering, Brandywine Gaming and Cal-Neva sports wagering businesses.
Ironically it is William Hill’s affiliation with online poker software giant, Playtech (which runs the iPoker Network) that has apparently raised eyebrows among regulators.
The online gambling software giant’s founder, Teddy Sagi, was once charged with bribery and fraud in 1996. He served nine months in prison.
Hill is so reliant on Playtech for its online business that executives were literally shut out of their own Tel Aviv office last year following an employee mutiny. That office was contracted out to Playtech.
The story was widely reported by industry and mainstream press. Shares in William Hill plunged last October following the employee walkout. The Board is widely believed to be studying what transpired in Tel Aviv during this time.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
