According to an interview with the chairman of Nevada Gaming Control Board, we might see a legislation of online poker in USA already this year. The chairman, Mark Lipparelli, says that a new gaming license system might get the first official applications within a few months time. This would mean that gambling sites could be running legally in some states already this year. The first state to get a license, however, will most likely be Nevada.
In the interview, Lipparelli also talked in detail how the procedure for applying gambling sites would work. Besides the application itself, this procedure includes other things such as a real technical evaluation of the applicant's products to make sure that only serious, well-functioning sites get the license.