The new deal is to launch a play-for-free online poker site in the form of a joint venture which comes ahead of anticipated changes to US legislation. In a press release from the Golden Nugget – they said the launch of the site would take place at some time in the next quarter.

The Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino is one of the most famous as well as the most popular of all Las Vegas casinos. They are certainly the largest in the downtown area, and Chiligaming proprietary software – the iGaming platform – allows it to connect to any online gambling provider or poker software platform. This is a fact which is central to the new US proposition with the company, and will help the Golden Nugget to enter the online poker and gambling marketplace with maximum impact. Hopefully, as this new landscape takes shape it will maximize options for both the Golden Nugget and Chilligaming.

The Golden Nugget is also one of the oldest (established in 1946) and well knows Casinos in Vegas, it offers more than 2,300 luxury rooms, and is only one of many USA gambling establishments in the live business that is clamouring to get into the online gambling world. The strangest thing is that these businesses fought against this industry for so long, believing that online gambling would cannibalise their existing business. Now the Government has dug in its heels and it is proving really difficult for the about-face to take place. It just goes to show that you get what you ask for when you ask for it for long enough! It appears as though it will still take a long time for legislation to be put in place; if this should happen? Finally, at least land gambling concerns are seeing the online industry as another positive revenue stream.

With changes taking place in Nevada gambling laws as well as potentially on a federal level; the Golden Nugget started an intensive process to seek out an online gambling operator that would be a good fit as a partner. It took them approximately 9 months to find the right fit, and Chilligaming is it. They looked at over a dozen online gambling companies, and were taken by the passion, talent and knowledge demonstrated by this team.

They are extremely experienced in Europe, and the Golden Nugget believes that they far exceed their competitors in the same industry. The Chairman of the Golden Nugget also said ~ “We believe that online gaming is inevitable in the United States, and that the Golden Nugget will be well positioned to compete when US laws allow for online gaming.”

Currently the government is seeking to stop all visits by poker and blackjack players from entering online tournaments as well as playing gambling- based games. There is a culture of gambling in India, and placing bets on cockfights is almost a national pass-time, however legal gambling is only available in a very few isolated venues.

Obviously there are massive opportunities for online gambling operators in India, and in fact the Asian marketplace as a whole. The Media Entertainment Consulting Network has reported that gambling online in India could generate annual revenues that exceed US $50 billion. Sri Lanka is taking advantage of the Indian crackdown and is quickly making moves to aggressively attract foreign investment for hotels, resorts and online casinos. This is a sure-fire move to attract gambling tourism from India and China where gambling is only allowed on Macau, and not on the mainland. This approach from the Indian Government might leave some seriously untapped revenue generating opportunities.

In the meantime in the UK, hearings have been conducted regarding their online casino industry. The Parliamentary Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport will be continuing with this with the objective of offering more direction for the online gambling industry in terms of regulation. This industry in the UK is the best developed in the world, and they have learned that current legislation just doesn’t cover all of the bases. The latest to testify before the committee were Alderney and Gibraltar regulators – these are both white listed territories, which means they are extremely interested parties. White listing means that online gambling operators may advertise to customers in the UK.

Currently the UK Government is seriously considering secondary licensing. This should help generate additional tax revenues, as currently offshore licensees may ply their trade in Britain, but are not compelled to pay taxes. Different opinions have been expressed, and head of the AGCC – Andre Wilsenach said that the need to tighten up regulations was real. This has never been more evident than with the recent Full Tilt Poker debacle, where thousands of members of this online poker site have still be unable to recover the monies they are due.

His suggestion includes more careful assessment of risk with their licensees, from their base of operations. Operators could also receive a risk rating and their license details, governing or restrictions be factored by these.  A new report is available from the gambling prevalence study also, and these actually don’t bode very well for UK-facing online gambling ops.  Experts are second-guessing that any new regulations will tighten things up for everyone involved in the industry.