Ultimate Poker launches in 2013 and becomes the first legal US facing poker room licensed and regulated in the state of Nevada.
Great news for US poker players, perhaps not so great news for US affiliates. US poker players have been virtually locked out of poker since
Black Friday 2011 which has left players with no good places to play. FullTilt Poker, PokerStars, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were virtually wiped off the poker map in a single day with many American players having their funds frozen. Recreational players had very little options with a few poker rooms still taking US players but enduring payment processing issues which make it risky for them in getting their money back. During this time many professional poker players have left the United States to continue making a living playing online poker while others have settled into Las Vegas playing the tables.
On February 22, 2013,
the state of Nevada announced it had licensed online gambling.
For poker players it appears that Ultimatepoker.com takes players in the state of Nevada only but the good news is they are connected to Station Casinos where players can deposit into the online poker room and withdraw at the 16 locations in the state. Of course for poker players this gives them something they have wanted for a long time: financial security and the legitimization of online poker.
For affiliates it seems there isn't an affiliate program at the moment and with an existing player database to market to, it seems that Station Casinos LLC doesn't have too much incentive for offering an affiliate program either at all or with commission rates of what poker affiliates were used to seeing. Either way it does appear to be a step in the right direction for online gambling.
