PokerStars Will Partner with Resorts Casino on Its Licensed Online Gambling Sites.
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have been approved to launch online gambling operations in the New Jersey gaming market. Amaya Gaming, which owns both leading online poker brands, announced on Wednesday evening that it had formal approval from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
The approval ends nearly 2 years of speculation on whether PokerStars would be able to launch a gaming portal in the New Jersey online gambling niche. The decision also signals the long-awaited return of the world’s biggest poker website to the United States–and this time, it’s legal.
Launch Date for PokerStars in New Jersey
David Baazov, the CEO of Amaya Gaming, did not mention a launch date for the PokerStars brand. Baazov had been predicting approval for months, and it can be assumed that Amaya Gaming has had a plan in mothballs for just such an eventuality. Baazov only said the rollout would be “in the near future”.
History of the Application Process
In June 2013, PokerStars signed a deal with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Online operators needed a deal with an existing land-based casino in Atlantic City. At the time, it seemed Resorts Casino had scored a coup, because it was pairing with the world’s number one poker brand. Dominance in the market seemed assured. Then, in October 2013, the DGE suspended the licensing process.
For many months, Resorts Casino maintained its patience. In March 2015, it finally signed with SNG Interactive to launch a gaming site. At the time, speculation swirled that PokerStars might go another direction. That was never likely. NYX Gaming Group took over the SNG Interactive after buying out previous partner, Sportech. Around the same time, Amaya Gaming invested $10 million in NYX Gaming Group.
PokerStars and Resorts Casino Hotel
Thus, it makes sense when David Baazov said today that Amaya Gaming (PokerStars) would supply Resorts Casino with full support for its online poker site and its online casino platform. PokerStars/Resorts casino is set to become a major player in a market which has been dominated by Borgata Online and Caesars Interactive until this point.
In the long interim, conspiracy theories surfaced that the New Jersey administration was slow-playing the review process to help Governor Chris Christie gain political contributions from anti-online gaming advocate Sheldon Adelson. Christie is running for US president and needs a war chest for the long campaign battle to come. Sen. Raymond Lesniak had called out Chris Christie several times on that point.
David Rebuck on Rational Media
Only this week, DGE Director David Rebuck gave an interview with Global Gaming Business in which he discussed the long vetting process. In his interview, David Rebuck suggested the hold-up had more to do with charged back in Canada involving a possible Amaya Gaming insider trading scandal.
If so, it seems that Amaya Gaming passed the test. David Baazov mirrored the words of David Rebuck when he discusses an investigation which involved interviews with 70 to 80 different people, along with trips to foreign countries and visits to a half-dozen jurisdictions in all.
In the end, David Baazov thanked the Division of Gaming Enforcement for a “thorough and fair review of our business.”
Impact on US Gaming
That is likely to be the talking points moving ahead. In his Global Gaming Business interview, David Rebuck suggested that New Jersey was being so thorough, because he knew other U.S. states would look to their review for guidance. He suggested the same thing about other countries (likely in the western hemisphere).
Therefore, Wednesday’s decision to license and regulate a legal PokerStars brand in New Jersey might be the breaking of a logjam. Other states, such as California and Pennsylvania, might decide to include PokerStars in any interactive gaming laws they pass. If so, then today is a watershed moment in US online gambling.
Impact on Amaya Gaming
Even if not, it is a red-letter day for Amaya Gaming and PokerStars. Also, it’s going to be taken as great news for New Jersey gamblers who played on PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker all those years ago. Gamblers flocked to the Rational Media websites, because they had the best platform, the biggest community of poker players, and the largest jackpots. Truly world class online poker tournaments have returned to Jersey.
