Hawaii and Ohio to consider regulate online poker

"We're exploring this topic," said Dennis Berg, Ohio Lottery Commission interim director. "We want to be in the forefront of being able to generate revenue for the lottery commission. But it's a policy decision that we will not make on our own."

In Hawaii, California-based US Digital Gaming has been lobbying legislators with presentations that describe the billions of dollars the state could gain by regulating online poker. The presentation is similar to others being shopped in dozens of states around the country.

"They turn out to be really large numbers that can really benefit in funding essential services for the state of Hawaii," said Digital Gaming's executive vice president, Melissa Riahei. "It is a very significant sum. What we were doing is basically just informing the senators and the representatives of what's going on across the country right now in the digital gaming world and what different states are doing."

The online gambling discussion intensified when the Department of Justice issued an opinion released in December that reverses the federal government's previous stand on Internet gambling. With that opinion, an entire nation turned their eyes towards the revenue possibilities of online poker and other casino games.