Aug. 9--CARSON CITY, Nev.--Nevada gaming regulators are investigating the relationship between an Internet betting site and a September poker tournament scheduled at downtown's Four Queens. 

Advertisements in national poker magazines circulated in Nevada card rooms say the online poker site, ultimatebet.com, is charging customers $15 or $30 apiece to compete in small, Internet card tournaments. 

Winners of the events receive buy-ins to the 4 Queens Poker Classic, a tournament slated for Sept. 5-23 at the downtown casino. 

Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said he's troubled that a Nevada casino has ties to a Web betting site, especially at a time when state law prohibits people from online betting within Nevada's borders. 

"I'm concerned about the link," Neilander said after reading an advertisement for the tournaments in the Aug. 10 edition of Poker Digest magazine. 

The ad reads: "4 Queens Poker Classic. $15 and $30 Online Satellites. Going now! UltimateBet's limit Hold'em satellite tournaments guarantee up to $12,000 in prizes: $5,000 or $1,000 in Poker Classic buy-in, up to $500 in travel expenses, five nights hotel accommodations." 

The control board has tried to ensure that Nevada-licensed casinos aren't involved with Web gambling sites that take bets from players in the United States, he noted. 

"It's troubling," Neilander said, "because the Four Queens is a licensee." 

Cory Aronovitz, a Chicago lawyer representing UltimateBet, denied there is any link between the Web site and the Las Vegas casino. Aronovitz declined to name the investors in the Web site, which is regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Quebec. 

"There is no affiliation between UltimateBet and the Four Queens," Aronovitz said. 

The U.S. Justice Department has considered online betting to be illegal from within U.S. borders because of a 40-year-old federal law prohibiting sports betting over the phone lines. 

Earlier this year, the Nevada Legislature authorized state gaming regulators to determine whether Internet betting could be legal from within Nevada's borders. 

Despite government prohibitions against the practice, online betting is expected to generate nearly $2 billion in revenue this year, with the majority of the wagers placed from inside the United States. 

Four Queens' executive director of marketing, Doug Hoppe, said Wednesday that bricks-and-mortar tournament producer Bonnie Damiano hadn't advised him of the UltimateBet satellite tournaments. 

"This is the first I've heard of this," Hoppe said. "This is something she's done on her own." 

Hoppe said the casino has a contract with Damiano's company, ECC Services, to run the tournament at Four Queens. 

"The Four Queens will abide by all state rules and regulations," Hoppe added. "If UltimateBet is not allowed to conduct satellite tournaments we'll take whatever steps are necessary to remain in compliance with those rules." 

Damiano, who runs a number of high-profile tourneys for casinos and has an office in Las Vegas, said Wednesday the tournament is a joint venture with the Four Queens. 

"The tournament will bring in a lot of players, fill the hotel rooms and the casino tables," Damiano said, noting that UltimateBet is a title sponsor for the 4 Queens Classic, and that the UltimateBet satellite tourney winners will have their Poker Classic entry fees paid by the Web site. 

She said she didn't check with Nevada gaming regulators to see if state rules allowed the online satellite tournaments. 

"I'm sure UltimateBet's lawyers made sure it was legal," she said. "I don't want to do anything that's not OK. I'm just trying to do everything I can to bring tournament poker back to Las Vegas." 

The company requires gamblers placing bets on its Web site to acknowledge that they are not betting from a location where the practice is illegal. 

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