Eleven years after first applying for approval to become a licensed operator and provider of online-gambling services in Nevada, MGM Resorts Interactive LLC, the digital division of MGM Resorts International, has received a 13th extension of time to submit for approval an online-poker site to serve Nevada residents and visitors.
The latest extension continues a holding pattern for MGM Resorts that has existed since 2012, when the company first applied for online licensing. Nevada Gaming Control Board rules allow for the issuance of minimum-six-months extensions, though in recent years, the NGCB has issued one-year extensions instead. Wednesday's extension is one such, stretching until April 2024.
A smaller software interest, Z4Poker LLC, also received a 13th consecutive time extension from the NGCB. Z4Poker, founded by Las Vegas resident David Colvin, does not have any apparent connection to MGM, but would likely hope to partner with a casino brand if it ever moved forward with a poker site in the state.
Board member Assad voices criticism of MGM Resorts
Despite voting in favor of the latest time extension for MGM Resorts, the newest member of the three-person Gaming Control Board, George Assad, used the opportunity to criticize MGM for years of stock-price affecting poor performance.
Assad was a former shareholder of MGM Resorts stock before divesting his holdings when appointed to the GCB in January. “It seems like the company has made some bad decisions,” the Nevada Independent reported Assad as declaring, referring to the company's sharp market decline under former CEO Jim Murren.
Murren retired in 2020 and was replaced by current CEO Bill Hornbuckle, who Assad hopes can make a final decisions regarding MGM Resorts and online poker in Nevada. “Decisions like this give me pause in terms of why can't upper management or Mr. Hornbuckle just make a decision after 11 years to either move forward with interactive gaming or not," Assad also stated.
Assad's criticism was deemed unnecessary and possibly share-price impacting by both MGM and some outside casino-industry observers.
WSOP.com remains Nevada's sole online poker site
A major factor remains Nevada's ongoing decision to have authorized only online poker while, at the behest of many of the state's land-based casino corporations, refusing to authorize online casino-style gaming. Opposition to legalized online casino gaming in Nevada was spearheaded by the late Sheldon Adelson, the long-time CEO of Venetian and Palazzo parent company Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Adelson was strongly supported in his anti-online stance by former Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn.
The smaller revenue available through only online poker cooled many firms' interest, such as MGM Resorts. Caesars Interactive Entertainment's WSOP.com is the sole survivor of three licensed online-poker sites that have launched in Nevada to date. The short-lived South Point Poker and the Station Casinos-associated Ultimate Poker both failed in the face of low player volume and sparsely developed and supported software.
Should MGM Resorts Interactive ever move forward with a Nevada online poker site, it has several brands to choose from. Perhaps the likeliest choice would be a BetMGM Poker Nevada offering, to maximize brand awareness and crossover to its online sports-betting brand, and BetMGM Poker sites already available in several states.
Featured image source: MGM Resorts
