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Nevada is preparing to allow casinos and other organizations to fill out applications which, if accepted, would allow companies to provide legal online poker to state residents. Come February 2012, parties will be able to vie for the right to become the first regulated, fully functional internet poker service in the United States.

Spearheaded by Control Board chairman Mark Lipparelli, this effort could very well shape the future of online gambling in America. The companies most likely to earn licenses, he states, would be those who already hold both an active gaming license and the goodwill of the state’s officials. Casinos such as Caesars or MGM already have a foot in the door, and could soon become the new face of US online poker.

This represents a historic shift in policy. During the years of the Poker Boom, brick-and-mortar casinos were the mortal enemy of online poker sites, claiming that their ultra-low stakes took players off of their floors. This is, all things considered, a half truth. While there were assuredly players who opted to remain in the comfort of their own homes to play, the easy availability of internet poker created a massive explosion in the game’s popularity. But now, as the only game in town, the casinos are positively drooling over the potential revenues a US-based online poker system could produce.

“We’ve taken our brick-and-mortar operational standards to a new level,� Lipparelli told VegasInc.com. “We’re going to continue to be flexible, but we think we’ve set the bar high for licensing and suitability.�

For now, online poker would be legal only within the borders of Nevada, and only to state residents. But once other states see the sheer amount of money being made off of online poker taxes, it will be only a matter of time before either further intra-state or even federal poker regulation begins to gather steam.