Delaware Becomes First State to Launch Full-Scale Real-Money Online Gambling
Delaware has officially become the first U.S. state to launch a full-scale online gambling operation following a week-long trial run with selected participants in the state.
Three Delaware casinos opened their virtual doors on Friday, offering a wide range of real-money games including poker, blackjack, roulette and slots. Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway are running a platform provided by 888 Holdings under the jurisdiction of the Delaware state lottery.
Powered by 888's poker software, Delaware's online poker offering will have the same look and feel as WSOP.com's real-money website in Nevada. The games currently offered by the trio of Delaware sites, which share liquidity with each other, include no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha cash games up to $2/$4, and sit-n-gos ranging from $1 to $100. Multi-table tournaments are expected to be added at a later date.
Among the features on Delaware's poker offering is face2face poker on the new Pokercam tables, allowing players to see their opponents in real-time through the use of a webcam. The poker software also allows for multi-tabling, table resizing, and player notes, similar to the popular poker rooms available all over the globe.
All customers must be physically located in Delaware to participate, though a social security number is required which will exclude non-U.S. citizens from participating. Players are required to give consent to the use of location-based services to detect their geographic location.
Nevada was the first state to launch regulated online gambling in April, but for now the Silver State offers only poker to customers. In addition to casino games and slots, lottery tickets will be on the menu in Delaware, making it the first state to offer full-scale Internet gambling.
Meanwhile, New Jersey is planning to roll out its iGaming operation on Nov. 26. Several industry giants were approved to do business in New Jersey on Friday, making it a busy day for iGaming in the Northeast.
We'll be providing much more on Delaware's Internet gambling launch in the weeks ahead. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
