Sunday, May 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WEB CASINOS THORNY ISSUE

World Series of Poker world champion Chris Moneymaker won entry to the World Series by playing in online poker tournaments at PokerStars.com.

Moneymaker's story, parlaying a $40 investment into a cool $2.5 million, seems like an obvious marketing boost for Web casinos such as PokerStars.com, ParadisePoker.com and PlanetPoker.com, but growing connections between Web poker and Nevada casino poker are troublesome to Nevada gaming regulators.

Most of the top poker Web sites are regulated in the Caribbean or by the Kahnawake tribe in Quebec, Canada, venues Nevada Gaming Control Board members consider to be weakly regulated.

Nevada regulators, basing their opinion on guidance from the federal government, say the sites illegally allow American citizens to play.

Control board members recently insisted the general manager of the Tuscany Casino sell his ownership stake in a Web poker site and have in the past forced casinos to cut direct marketing ties to Nevada cardrooms.

Nevada law expressly prohibits players from betting on Internet Web sites, but regulators and law enforcement have yet to prosecute individual players.

Moneymaker's native state, Tennessee, was until recently one of three states with no state-sanctioned gambling, along with Hawaii and Utah. The state recently approved a lottery.

Is Moneymaker worried that by admitting he plays Internet poker for money from his home that he could interest Tennessee law enforcement?

He wasn't saying.

"My lawyer's not present at this time," Moneymaker said.

REVIEW-JOURNAL