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Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review Journal notes that, with two real money online poker sites now launched in Nevada, the market is already saturated.
True, very true. Caesars WSOP.com opened its doors to real money play this past week, following in the footsteps of Station Casinos backed Ultimate Poker.
What’s needed is multi-state compacts as Nevada’s under 4 million population simply cannot sustain even two online poker sites, let alone the nearly two dozen that have applied for licenses.
Nevada’s relatively small customer base isn’t changing. Competition, however, will increase, Stutz writes.
Early numbers suggests that Ultimate Poker had roughly $750,000 in gaming revenues during the month of July. Analysts suggest that $45 million could be generated annually by the industry as a whole within the state of Nevada.
Poker, unlike other casino games, needs a substantial enough player pool (i.e. liquidity) in order to survive.
"I think it’s in everybody’s interest at the end of the day that there be compacts among states and that there be shared liquidity," Caesars Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch Garber said.
“It’s a huge win for the states because pooling liquidity will generate additional tax revenue,” Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling said.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has also backed the concept of multi-state compacts, with his state acting as the centerpiece.
"I’m introducing the concept of compacting,” Sandoval said. “We have the infrastructure and other states have the players. I’m hopeful we’ll continue to talk.”
New Jersey and Delaware appear to be ideal partners as both already permit legalized Web poker in their respective states. But Eilers Research gaming analyst Adam Krejcik told the Review Journal he doesn’t believe that “New Jersey is in any rush to partner with Nevada.”
California would be the ultimate trophy yet the Tribes have blocked previous efforts to pass legislation there. Other states such as Mississippi, Iowa and Illinois, have attempted to legalize online gambling but were met with similar hurdles.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
