You know what happens to Joe Pesci at the end, right? (Photo: Wikipedia)

The day where you can blow your paycheck playing poker over the Internet creeps ever closer! Fast Company reports that the Nevada Gaming Commission has issued U.K.-based online gambling company 888.com a license to act as an "interactive gaming service provider." 

That means the company can, once more, run an online gambling business in the U.S.--legally this time, that is. 888 had to exit the market with other international operators when the feds closed old Internet gambling loopholes and began cracking down. Some states (including New York and New Jersey) have begun the long, slow process of legalizing the practice but this is the first official license secured by an Internet-only operator.

(Update, 2:40 p.m.) The Verge points out that 888 Holdings has a rather checkered past: "The International Gaming Affiliate Marketing Initiative (IGAMI) blacklisted 888 twice for "unethical affiliate practices including scraping and spamming" and "numerous instances of blog and forum spamming." Another group, CasinoAffiliatePrograms, suspended 888's certification in May 2006 and requested that the company take steps to curb spam." But nowadays, the company's spokesman says, they limited themselves to "very good targeted marketing." Guess the good folks of Nevada will find out soon enough.

This might also herald a happy opportunity for beleaguered Zynga, which poached an exec from 888 Holdings last year in an attempt to get its own online gambling operatons off the ground.

Of course, the problem with this license is that it only gives 888 the opportunity to operate in Nevada. Why would you want to stay inside and gamble online when the bright lights of Las Vegas are right there?

(Photo: Gamesys)

With all this spare cash we have lying around, we were getting concerned that there weren't enough outlets on the Internet for us to waste it. Luckily, Facebook has our back, and it's an even better way to spend money than on shitty Zynga goods.

According to the Financial Times, Facebook has launched its first game where users can bet real money (with the hopes of winning real money, of course). Because gambling laws in the U.K. are closely regulated and allow for that sort of thing, the game will only be available to U.K. users, which is a damn shame for those who love Atlantic City but don't feel like venturing out of their dark basements.

Facebook's first foray into gambling will be pretty staid: It's a Bingo app, built by U.K. gambling game company Gamesys, appropriately called Bingo Frienzy.

But if fellow New Yorkers were hoping Facebook will bring gambling to its U.S. platform any time soon, you might have to channel your dreams elsewhere:

In the US, where the majority of Facebook revenues are generated, the market for real-money social gaming is in effect closed. Regulators only recently began opening the door to certain kinds of online gambling, and only at a state level, presenting significant technical challenges for keeping operations within the law.

Guess you'll have to stick to wasting money on buying Farmville crops, then.