NEVADA REGULATORS TICK ANOTHER ONLINE POKER BOX

03/24/2012 :  NEVADA REGULATORS TICK ANOTHER ONLINE POKER BOX
 
Testing and monitoring requirements signed off
 
It's taken eleven drafts and extended collaboration and debate, but the requirements and regulations for online poker testing companies in Nevada were signed off by the Nevada Gaming Commission Thursday, taking Nevada a step closer to legalised intrastate online poker, although officials remain cagey about the start date.
 
Card Player reports that a system for using and monitoring independent testing agencies is now in place, for the first time allowing Nevada regulators to save time, staff and costs by delegating testing responsibilities to external resources, although state officials will still have to give their imprimatur.
 
The change in policy has already had consequences for some 12 staff members of the Nevada technology department who have been laid off, according to department chief Jim Barbee.
 
There are to be no inside tracks for competing test labs, according to Nevada Control Board chairman Mark Lipparelli, who told Card Player that the process for approving test agencies would be open and competitive, and that the market would soon weed out unsuitable or underperforming agencies, and the Board would be keeping a close watch.
 
The rules for the testing agencies labs take effect from May 1, 2012.