Card Player – There are just three states with legalized and operational online poker — Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey. It appears very possible to remain that way when 2014 winds to a close.
The aforementioned three have online poker industries in their infancy, which means strong revenues have yet to be realized. It’s unclear how much Nevada or Delaware have seen in online poker revenue, but New Jersey did recently release some figures on its fledgling system.
The sentiment among the remaining states in the country with some propensity to authorize gambling seems to be a wait-and-see approach. After all, it’s much easier to push a bill through when other states have sorted through any hiccups with their games. It’s also incredibly valuable to be able to more accurately estimate what revenue would look like.
We’ll start with what might be the state most likely to legalize online poker in 2014 — Pennsylvania. In May, the state will have its study completed on the industry and a proposal is already in the works from one lawmaker. Pennsylvania, now the nation’s number two commercial casino market, has in recent years become very open to expanded gambling.
Illinois, which has an online lottery that has expressed interest in offering Internet gaming, has in the past been regarded as a serious player in the online poker debate. But those talks have quieted down over the past year or so. The state has rejected calls for expanded casino gambling, and even said negative to a proposal to keep casinos there open 24 hours. Thus, online poker is probably not likely there this year, given the political climate.
Louisiana, which last year made some effort to study online poker, according to reports could have an online poker bill hit the legislature this year. However, even if so, given the fact that there’s not a history of online poker attempts in Louisiana, there could be a lack of momentum.
