Credit card companies will not need Nevada licence
Only payment processors must be licensed with operators to be held accountable for errors or fraud.
The likes of Visa and MasterCard do not need to apply for an online poker licence in Nevada under changes made to state regulation, while operators will be held responsible for any errors or fraud in payment processing.
Revisions of regulations adopted by the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) last week specify the different service providers which must be licensed for online poker in the state, but these do not apply to credit card companies.
The changes, a draft of which was published earlier this month, define specific classes of service providers which do not operate or maintain software and hardware.
Regulation 5 now includes the definitions ‘patron identification service provider’, ‘payment processing service provider’ and ‘geolocation service provider’.
These terms reflect the applications of player identification service providers such as Player Verify, which applied for a licence in August, and payment processor Global Cash Access, which received its licence last month.
Nevada deputy attorney general Michael Somps, who wrote the new revisions, told CardPlayer that there is a “serious obligation on the operator to make sure due diligence” is followed for payment processing. However, credit card companies that facilitate player deposits will not need a licence as well.
The stance is intended to avoid dissuading non-gaming companies, which may not have a physical presence in Nevada, from bringing their services to the Silver State.
Moreover, widening the licensing process to non-gaming companies would run the risk of over-stretching the resources of the NGC and the Gaming Control Board.
Last week, WMS Gaming, Stratosphere-owner American Casino and Entertainment Properties (ACEP) and marketing affiliate PokerTrip Enterprises became the latest licence recipients.
South Point Poker, which was the first along with Monarch to receive an operator licence in August, hopes to be the first to offer online poker this autumn.