Three more casino operators get online poker licenses

Three more casino operators received online poker licenses today to compete in Nevada’s developing intrastate market.

They are  online subsidiaries of Boyd Gaming Corp., for Station Casinos LLC and the founding Fertitta family’s Ultimate Poker brand, and for the Golden Nugget with casinos in Las Vegas and Laughlin.

The applicants were approved today by the Nevada Gaming Commission, which met in Las Vegas, and had received initial approvals Oct. 3 from the state Gaming Control Board.

The licenses are not for video poker but for players to compete against each other online as now occurs in physical casino poker rooms.

Bob Boughner, executive vice president and chief business development officer at Boyd, told gaming commissioners the company sees online poker as a way for Nevada to diversify its economy.

Nevada is positioned to lead the nation as online gaming expands on a state-by-state basis or nationwide, as many of the biggest operators will be based here and are creating jobs, online operators say.

Boyd expects online poker to grow the Nevada market rather than cannibalize physical poker rooms, in part because in the online sector players can play in multiple games at the same time — something not possible in physical casinos.

“This is a significant reason this market will grow,’’ Boughner said, adding the online component could double the size of Nevada’s current land-based poker market generating annual revenue of $132 million from 872 tables.

Today’s approvals lift to a dozen the number of Nevada online poker licensess.

The others approved this summer and fall are South Point Poker, Global Cash Access Holdings, Bally Technologies, SHFL entertainment (formerly Shuffle Master), American Casino and Entertainment Properties, PokerTrip Enterprises and NetEffect Networks, all of Las Vegas; International Game Technology and Monarch Interactive of Reno; and WMS Industries of Waukegan, Ill.

Additionally, physical casino giants, including Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts, have submitted online poker applications.

South Point Poker is among the companies that appears to be close to receiving final technical and regulatory approvals to go live with its site, and it hopes to do so by the end of the year.

Boughner separately was asked about Boyd’s stalled Echelon resort on the Las Vegas Strip and said there’s no current economic catalyst to resume construction.

He said the company is working on plans to improve the appearance of the site with improved landscaping and wraps for exposed structures, and they should be in place next year.

Gaming commissioners separately approved plans for contract operator Navegante Gaming of Las Vegas to operate the LVH hotel-casino once it’s foreclosed on, which is expected on Oct. 31.

LVH officials said it will be business as usual after the foreclosure for the property’s customers and vendors and that “substantially all” of its 2,200 employees will be rehired.

Foreclosing lenders including investment bank Goldman Sachs plan to own the LVH indefinitely while they decide what to do with it.

Gaming

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