Ultimate Gaming was the historic first company to deliver a virtual poker hand since Nevada legalized online poker in the Silver State. Nevada was the first state to legalize online poker since Congress and the United States Department of Justice passed the ability to regulate online gambling to the state level in late 2011. Ultimate Gaming opened the Ultimate Poker website on April 30, and it took less than 72 hours to see thousands of users from all 50 United States and 20 countries sign up and open a pay for play account.

While you can register and fund an account from anywhere in the world, you must physically be located in Nevada state boundaries to enjoy legalized online poker under the new legislation. In little more than 48 hours, ultimate poker dealt out its 100,000th hand, and last Thursday had 50 poker tables in action around 10 PM. Ultimate Gaming CEO Tobin Prior said last Friday that he believes the virtual poker room was the largest operating poker room in the state at that time. The launch of Ultimate Poker, which has delivered the nation’s first legally and officially regulated pay to play online poker, has definitely exceeded expectations.

Ultimate Poker Chairman Tom Breitling would not release official financial numbers from the first few days of his company’s website, but has shared that information with Nevada gaming regulators. Ultimate Poker generates revenue through a “rake” that pulls a small percentage from each poker pot. There are also tournament fees collected which go directly to the company. Nevada will then receive 6.75% of all revenue that Ultimate Poker makes through its online gambling efforts.

Notable Nevada brick-and-mortar gaming company Station Casinos, Inc. owns a full 57% of Ultimate Poker, whose creation was driven predominantly by Breitling, who controls 14% of the company. Station Casinos is controlled and operated by brothers Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta, who also own the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand. Players are able to register and make deposits as users through the website, but also at the cashier cages inside each of the Station Casinos properties in Southern Nevada. The physical locations can also act as withdrawal locations.

Breitling said that he and other company executives definitely expected support for the history-making website, but they were totally and happily surprised by the number of customers setting up accounts from outside Nevada. Nevada’s tourism bureau has to be ecstatic, since those players will now have to plan trips to the Silver State to access their accounts and play online poker. The first legal poker play in the United States has also caused an increase in the amount of US poker players accessing legal poker sites not located inside physical US boundaries.