Nevada confident to win race to be first State to offer online poker

Nevada confident to win race to be first State to offer online poker
3/12/2012
http://winsgame.com/poker

The Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Mark Lipparelli, has confirmed in an interview with iGaming Business that online operators with licences and technical systems approved by the state could be up and running for real-money, intra-state online poker before the end of 2012.


Speaking to iGaming Business following the iGaming North America conference in Las Vegas on March 6, Mr Lipparelli detailed the timeline for Nevada’s online gaming application process and also confirmed that the state approval of both license and system will result in the ability to operate without any additional legislation.


“The process from here will see licence applicants appearing on our public agendas in May/June.  For the successful licence applicants, the last step in turning the systems on will be a technical evaluation, and although we’re not certain how long this process will take, it’s plausible, even likely, that you’ll see the first set of systems approved for initial deployment by the fall.”


The technical evaluation for operators filing applications is expected to take place between late spring and early summer, with Lipparelli confident that Nevada licensees who were “thoughtful about their approach and had their systems reviewed by test labs in the past”  would potentially be in operation “by late fall and certainly by late winter or the early part of 2013”.


The full version of the exclusive interview with Chairman Mark Lipparelli will appear in the first issue of iGaming Business North America magazine.

PokerStars to Buy Full Tilt Poker

PokerStars to Buy Full Tilt Poker
4/24/2012


Following the news that Groupe Bernard Tapie’s proposed deal to buy Full Tilt Poker has been derailed after both parties failed to agree terms regarding the repayment of player funds, it has emerged that PokerStars has reached an agreement to acquire its former competitor.


According to several reports circulating this afternoon, PokerStars has agreed a settlement with the US DoJ that will lead to the purchase of Full Tilt Poker and, importantly, the repayment of all players still owed money after the closure of the Full Tilt site.


Groupe Bernard Tapie had been the front runner to finalise a deal for the former online poker giant until negotiations reached an impasse earlier today. A fee in the region of $750 million is rumoured to have been agreed for the acquisition and settlement to the DoJ, although we await confirmation of the finer details.