News in brief: Harry Reid; Ontario Lottery; Atlantic City; Inspired Gaming...
Nevada representative Shelley Berkley has said Senator Harry Reid may support Barney Frank's bill to legalise egaming...
Nevada representative Shelley Berkley has said Senate Majority leader Harry Reid may support Barney Frank’s bill to legalise egaming, having voted for the current ban in 2006. “I think his position has softened dramatically, but he’s going to need to be convinced,” she told the Reno Gazette-Journal. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I know he’s been moving to a positive position.” Berkley, along with fellow Nevada representative Dina Titus, are co-sponsors of Frank’s HR 2267, which passed out of committee two weeks ago. Berkley, however, admitted that without Reid’s support, yet to declare his position on the bill, such efforts are futile. “He’s the linchpin”, Berkley told the paper. “He will be the decider when it comes to Internet gaming.”
Ontario is set to follow British Columbia’s lead and offer legal online gaming to its citizens. A government official told the Toronto Star on Friday: “At this point it’s something we can’t ignore. It’s something that we’re exploring.” The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is also known to have prepared a request for proposal document to attract bids from prospective suppliers.
Atlantic City‘s casinos are preparing for the legalisation of egaming by talking to prospective B2B platform suppliers, the president of New Jersey’s casino association revealed on Friday. Mark Juliano, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey said in his testimony to a legislative summit on the state’s gaming industry on Friday: “We are all working with software programs to provide a mode for online poker rooms and casino games and we’re obviously watching the legislation on this very carefully. We do think that it is inevitable that it will pass at some point and we’re just waiting for some legislative direction.”
Inspired Gaming Group, which provides software and digital terminals through Open Server-Based Gaming, has signed an international distribution deal with Australian payment solutions provider ecash. As part of the deal, ecash will distribute Inspired’s Skills With Prizes (SWP) terminals under the ecash brand, ‘Play On’ throughout Australia.
Payments provider Ukash has launched new instant solution Ukash PayOut, which offers 0% processing costs to operators or customers. The product is already being used by Cereus Network sites Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker.