Card Player – Like Nevada, the New Jersey online poker system will not allow players to transfer funds to one another via the online poker software — at least for now. New Jersey plans to kick off its first games on Nov. 26 at 9 a.m. local time. The state legalized web poker earlier this year.
PokerStars, which looks to be involved with New Jersey online gambling thanks to a partnership, recently asked regulators to reconsider the issue. However, the state didn’t budge.
According to a regulations document released by the Division of Gaming Enforcement:
“Rational Group [PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker] suggest[ed] an amendment to the rules to permit the transfer of funds between patrons, provided that the Division is assured that the operator implements limits and carries out checks to ensure those limits are followed.”
The state rejected the idea, saying: “To prevent fraud, collusion, and money laundering, patron to patron transfers of funds will not be permitted.”
In Nevada, a former Gaming Control Board chairman said a couple of years ago during that state’s regulatory discussions that he didn’t want online gaming sites to serve as “shadow banking.”
The concern is there that players would use the sites to circumvent financial institutions. However, such transfers are arguably a key component to the success of an online poker site. Pro players, and those aspiring to be pros, use such transfers to facilitate staking.
With that said, the new climate of online poker in America — the businesses run by established American gaming firms — might not be too interested in worrying about what the poker pros find most convenient if it runs the risk of some legal trouble.
However, online poker in America is still in its infancy, so the state regulatory agencies may relax their positions on this issue in the future, once the industry is up and running smoothly and there is less of a concern for “fraud, collusion, and money laundering.”
The Silver State has two firms offering up web poker at the moment. Ultimate Poker, an offshoot of Station Casinos, and the WSOP are taking action from those within Nevada.
