It may be just coincidence, but only a day after New Jersey regulators reported another rising performance for the state’s nascent online gambling sector (it included a more than 30 percent increase in rake from intrastate online poker), Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval put the message out that he would be interested in discussing a combined poker player pool with New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Nevada and New Jersey legislation on internet gambling permits governors to negotiate player-sharing compacts.
Speaking at the Nevada Gaming Policy Committee meeting on eSports Friday, Sandoval intimated that a compact with New Jersey would be beneficial to both states. Nevada already has a player sharing compact with Delaware, which has a small market.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that New Jersey has more than 92 percent of the U.S. regulated online gaming market, and that in the past Pokerstars had ambitions to enter the Nevada online poker market in an agreement with Wynn Resorts, which withdrew from the project following Black Friday in 2011.
The Journal noted that according to a source, the prospect of player pool sharing may raise issues regarding server location.