Online poker will arrive to Nevada citizens in "seven to ten months", state regulators have said at a hearing on Monday. The first licenses for the new intrastate system will be issued within 30-60 days.

Legal and regulated intrastate online poker will arrive to Nevada citizens in "seven to ten months", state regulators from the Nevada Gaming Control Board said on Monday in a hearing, according to Cardplayer.com.

Monday's hearing in Las Vegas saw Chairman Mark Lipparelli outline the timeframe for the installation of the state's new intrastate online poker market, revealing that the board expects to hand out its first licenses within 30-60 days.

Due to a prolonged test period, in which operators are to test their software with independent third-parties for final approvals, it will however still take several months before the first games are up and running, Lipparelli added.

The launch of the new license-based system will see several large brick-and-mortar casino operators team up with some of the biggest providers of online gaming solutions in a number of high-profile partnerships.

These include 888, who has partnered with Caesars Entertainment and bwin.party, who has teamed up with MGM Resorts International.

Shufflemaster, the casino equipment and software developer who recently bought the Ongame Network from bwin.party, is also among the entities who have applied for a Nevada license.

Once the wait is over and the first games go live, Nevada will likely be spearheading the intrastate market in the U.S. as the only state able to offer its citizens legal and regulated online poker.

Several other states, including Iowa, California, New Jersey, Florida and Hawaii, have been working to introduce similar legislation, but so far without any success.

Source: Poker.org