A Wall Street gaming analyst has told industry investors that federal online gambling legislation in the U.S. will be pushed to 2013, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.

The statement comes after industry and players had to see an attempt to have the legislation written into the Senate's payroll tax bill fold, leaving no further possibilities open for progress, analyst Chad Benyon of Macquire Securities said.

Hopes had been nurtured by persistent rumors that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would try and have an online poker bill amended to the payroll tax bill, but Reid last week revealed that this would not be the case.

The payroll tax cut was approved without any online poker amendment on Friday by Congress and sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Instead, Benyon said, it will now be left for the individual states to carry legislation forward, headed by Nevada who is already looking to introduce an intrastate license system this year.

"Nevada's Gaming Control Board continues to methodically roll out legalized intrastate gaming and we believe their regulatory board has a great handle on what's to come," Benyon said.

He further added that other states like New Jersey, Iowa and California could use Nevada's Internet gaming regulations as "a template" for further legalization within state borders.

Major gaming operators like MGM and Caesars Entertainment, however, are likely to "continue to push for federal legalization of Internet poker because they believe Washington D.C. is better equipped than individual states to regulate online gambling," according to the Journal.

Many large operators have been partnering up with European online gambling operators in high profile partnerships, indicating that the industry is already looking towards legalization.

While the attempts to have a bill pushed through with the payroll tax bill failed, several experts and industry leaders, including MGM CEO James Murray, have revealed that legislation is inevitable and a question of time.