Two states that have already passed legalized online poker and other online gambling intrastate (meaning within their bordres) may now be teaming up to form an inter-state online poker compact, this according to a report released in USA Today.
At the beginning of this month, the Delaware Lottery Office issued to its vendors Requests for Proposal (or RFP) to decide who will operate a central gambling network in the state. These RFPs have required an online gambling website to be launched within the state by September 30, 2013.
Delaware’s problem, however, is that the state is so small that the population may not be large enough to attract a sizable enough pool of players to keep the site vital, and it could present the problem of too many people trying to move into the state too fast, just to be able to play online poker legally.
Hence this potential compact with the state of Nevada, which also has a meager population although 3 times that of Delaware. An agreement to allow each other’s residents to play on their online poker and online gambling sites would increase Delaware’s player pool three-fold and Nevada’s by a third.
The Delaware lottery director has even gone on record as stating that similar compacts with Europe aren’t even off the table.
Delaware’s biggest competition in this race for players — and to be the first state with intrastate online gambling sites up for people to play at — is New Jersey, which is on the verge of passing its own online gambling legislation.