Windows Phone Ultimate Poker
WP Ultimate Poker

iOS Nevada players are reimbursed for installing Windows.

Now that Nevadans can legally play poker online, there are still a few technical issues to hammer out. Such as what to do with those who would like to play form a Mac.

At this time the site launched by Ultimate Poker supports only Windows, so Apple-using gamblers seem to have been left out in the cold. Of course it is understandable that it was more important in the casino’s strategy to go live fast, than adapting the software for a platform that is used by a rather small minority of players.

Nevertheless, the market in Nevada is hardly big enough to afford the absence of anyone who wants to play Ultimate Poker’s Texas hold ‘em, so a solution had to be found until such time that the OS X version is complete.

What the company has come up with is to offer faithful players a reimbursement of up to $200 if they purchase Windows-emulator VMFusion and a copy of Windows. Such a setup allows Mac users to access the poker site from their computers.

To be eligible for the reimbursement, a poker fan must accumulate the same amount in rake, which requires approximately $5,000 wagered.

Since the site was launched only this month, no one has claimed the reimbursement yet. Even so, the site is generating some serious traffic, with over half a million hands already dealt, as well as completing the first tournament with a $10,000 payout.

Another item on the list of technical issues is how to verify the legal requirement that players must be physically present in Nevada when gambling.

Geo-location is a hot issue with the ongoing US online gambling renaissance, and Ultimate Poker’s two-step solution is likely to become standard procedure.

First of all, the site checks a player’s IP address and also filters out known proxies. Second, the registrant must own a mobile phone and agree to be tracked when logging in.

“We can locate your phone based on the cell tower that phone is talking to. There’s a few other things that we are not disclosing. We don’t want to create a roadmap,” said Ultimate Poker CTO Chris Derossi.

This solution unfortunately does not work for those using Verizon’s mobile services, with it being the only major network operator barring access to Ultimate Poker’s geo-location partner CAMS.

A final technical issue is the lack of possibility to play on the go, but the company is currently working on the mobile casino software.