Geolocation Companies Need to Fix Nevada Online Poker Issues

This is an open letter to companies that provide geolocation services to Nevada online poker sites.  Yes, I am calling you out.  Whoever you are, whichever geolocation companies are involved, you are not doing your job.

The companies in charge of locating Nevada online poker players have a long way to go to fulfill their duties, based on my player experience.

Some players are able to access sites without issues, but the fact remains that problems are widespread, and geolocation going down during primetime hours for “scheduled maintenance” is enough to anger Nevada players.

My personal losses from location issues and action I lost attributed to it are an estimated $500.  My true EV loss is somewhere between $200 and $1,500, according to my research on the issue.

I complained to one site, only claiming $6 in losses, but was told the issue was on my end. In that site’s opinion, I left Nevada in the middle of a hand. This is completely unacceptable, I lost money simply because the geolocation company could not identify me.

The site refused to refund my cash on an obvious geolocation issue.  No logical person can claim my laptop went from Summerlin to California in the course of one hand.

Geolocation technology that claims to locate players within Nevada is not meeting expectations. These companies might feel that 90 percent is good enough.  It isn’t, and these companies should be embarrassed to claim otherwise.  If your company cannot claim 99.99 percent or better, you need to find a different industry. Poker players depend on this.

A mobile device identified in the Las Vegas Valley did not suddenly cross state lines within a minute.

Tonight is a good example.  I found a heads up game with a strong opponent, one that could potentially beat me with his skills.  Instead, after a few hands, I got struck with an error message telling me that I was not in Nevada before I could play enough hands to find proper variance.  It caused the whole software platform to crash.  I was then unable to rejoin my game before my opponent called it a night.

This was not the first time this month this scenario happened.  It was not even the first time this week I received this action-killing screen.

You might be forgiven if it only happened once in the nine months of regulated Nevada online poker.  Instead, it happens multiple times per week.

If your technology is unable to define whether my laptop suddenly packed its bags 80 miles away down I-15 within a minute, while originally locating me within the Las Vegas Valley, then you should admit that you have no business in the Nevada online poker market and pass the torch to a company that is competent.

Your technology is clearly incapable of meeting player requirements.  The fact you will not bow down damages the entire Nevada online poker industry.

In case you want to argue this issue, I am in a Golden Gaming tavern, which is a future partner of the All-American Poker Network.  This is where the latest action-killing geolocation issue popped up. I am seated in Summerlin, but I got bounced because apparently my laptop took the first flight out of town.

I do not know of any Golden Gaming tavern that is close enough to the California border to force a mid-hand disconnection due to a quick-speed device move.

The entire Nevada interactive gaming industry depends on your company fixing this issue.  Players like me are sick of these problems.  Will you admit defeat, or will you continue to try and claim you are the right company for the job?

If you are the right company for this job, why are Nevada online poker players like me losing cash  and action because of these issues nine months after regulated online poker launched?

Is there a reasonable price to pay for poor geolocation services that Nevada online poker sites will blame on me?  If you would like to use me as an example for improvement, I give full consent to review and publication of my entire Nevada online poker history.

It is important to note that hand histories are not available to players, something I fully support, but leaves me in a position of not knowing exactly how much cash I have lost due to location services randomly deciding I am not in Nevada.

In my opinion, the fact I could lose even one penny due to poor geolocation technology is inexcusable, much less one week’s pay.