Churchill Downs, Inc., owner of the home of the Kentucky Derby, has applied for an interactive gaming license in Nevada, according to Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Should the application be approved, Churchill Downs could be among the first companies to offer online gambling services to residents of the state.The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) issued licenses to a handful of companies in June, though they were different than the one for which Churchill Downs applied. Rival firms Bally Technologies and International Game Technology (IGT) were both unanimously approved, but they will not be the ones offering the games. Instead, they'll be the firms to supply the systems and technology to companies like Churchill Downs, who will run the sites.
Thus, for Bally and IGT, it’s just a matter of patience now as Churchill Downs and dozens of other casino operators await the NGCB's rulings on their applications.
The NGCB also registered Gaming Laboratories International and BMM International to test interactive gaming equipment in Nevada. The two companies have years of experience, including testing Bally's and IGT's systems, so once companies start getting the ball rolling on their gambling offerings, the testing process should go much faster than if brand new companies were registered.
Churchill Downs is no stranger to online gambling. While it is best known for live horse racing and the Kentucky Derby in particular, it owns the online betting site TwinSpires.com. The site is registered in Oregon and takes bets from United States residents. Anyone of legal age can create an account on TwinSpires.com and bet on the ponies. Churchill Downs also acquired TwinSpires’ main rival, YouBet.com, in 2010 and merged the two sites under the TwinSpires brand.
Churchill Downs got into the poker industry earlier this year when it acquired the Atlanta-based poker media firm Bluff. The acquisition included the popular assets of Bluff including Bluff Magazine, Bluff.com, BluffMagazine.com, ThePokerDB online tournament database, and “a variety of leading blogs, forums, news, and editorial content, and tournament and player rankings designed to serve the in-depth content interests of poker enthusiasts throughout the United States.”At the time, a press release on TheStreet, read, in part, that Churchill Downs “believes this acquisition potentially provides it with new business avenues to pursue in the event there is a liberalization of state or Federal laws with respect to internet poker in the United States.”
The news that Churchill Downs has applied for an interactive gaming license in Nevada certainly legitimizes that statement. To date, Bluff Media has never actually offered online gambling services such as poker. It now appears that the poker media company could be branching out should Churchill Downs' application be approved.
We do not know, however, how a potential online poker site would be branded. It may use the Churchill Downs name, TwinSpires name, Bluff name, or something completely different. That remains to be seen.
Nevada approved online poker regulations at the end of 2011, passing Regulation 5A, which laid out the rules for intrastate online poker.
Once companies get their rooms up and running, which could be as soon as early 2013, they will only be allowed to serve customers who are at least 21 years old and within Nevada state borders. Credit cards will be permitted as a means of deposit, although inter-account transfers will not be allowed. Operators must keep five years’ worth of hand histories and take steps to prevent bot use.The opinion in the industry is that Nevada is looking long-term when it comes to online poker licensing. When the day comes that the game is legalized and regulated at the Federal level, Nevada hopes to use its potential position as a leader in online poker to attract companies to set up shop in the state.
