A Las Vegas casino is launching a free online poker website tied to the program it uses to determine perks for frequent gamblers, with an eye toward launching a site to play for real money if it becomes explicitly legal in the United States.
South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa owner Michael Gaughan is expected to announce Wednesday that the site will launch Thursday for members of its casino loyalty program and Oct. 17 for the public.
Gaughan tells The Associated Press the site is a first step in being ahead of the pack if federal or state lawmakers decide to explicitly allow casinos to operate Internet poker.
Casinos have pursued Internet poker more eagerly since federal indictments brought down the three largest sites that offered poker gambling to Americans.