PokerStars Aims to Open New Poker Room in Atlantic City
Though it has yet to receive licensing approval from New Jersey state gambling regulators, online poker behemoth PokerStars is already revealing that, if granted an operating license, the company plans to build a $10 million poker room at Resorts in Atlantic City.
The parent company of PokerStars, Isle of Man-based the Rational Group, announced last summer that it would be teaming up with Resorts, the oldest casino property along Atlantic City’s famed boardwalk, in a regulated iGaming venture in the Garden State.
Branded room to bridge gap
The room, which would be branded with the PokerStars name and logo, would be intended to lure online poker players to the land-based casino. According to the Press of Atlantic City, Resorts has not hosted live poker for three years.
Though PokerStars has not yet been granted operating approval by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, the hammers are ready to begin swinging from the word go, so says Resorts Spokesman William J. Pascrell III.
“As soon as the license is in hand, they’re ready to start building. “It will be the PokerStars poker room at Resorts,” Pascrell was quoted as saying.
Resorts, and indeed all of the dozen land-based casino properties in Atlantic City, are hoping that with the advent of real-money online gambling in New Jersey, younger players will be inspired to visit brick-and-mortar casinos for tie-ins, tournaments, or to cash in on comps that will be offered online but redeemable at land-based casinos.
Market will be operational in late November
New Jersey gambling officials released a final draft of the state’s iGaming regulations late this week, at the same time confirming that the real-money betting web sites could go live on November 26th. The November 26th date has been circulating for awhile, however some wondered if the state would be ready to go at that time, a rumor that the DGE has now put to bed with this week’s news.
While it is not yet clear which sites will be operational in late November, all of them will have to complete a five day “soft launch” period as required by New Jersey law. That period is essentially for testing, with invited players only able to access the games and regulators closely observing.
Approval in New Jersey will be huge for the company
For PokerStars, approval to enter the New Jersey market will be a noteworthy cap to a two year saga that has seen its site shuttered by the United States government on Black Friday to a purchase of its former main rival, Full Tilt Poker.
PokerStars acquired Full Tilt in the summer of 2012, striking a $731 million with the federal government while admitting no wrongdoing despite the fact that it continued to operate U.S.-facing real-money online poker games after the 2006 passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), a law that, while not explicitly outlawing online poker, restricted certain types of financial transactions related to online wagering.
The Press of Atlantic City reported that PokerStars also plans to headquarter its North American business in New Jersey, a plan that would bring additional jobs to a region that was hard hit by last year’s Hurricane Sandy.
The jobs situation in Atlantic City has been closely observed, as many industry insiders and officials in New Jersey have surmised that, without the new online wagering law and its attendant revenue, some Atlantic City casinos may have been facing closure or at the least, significant layoffs as the city continues to struggle in the face of increasing competition for gamblers from neighboring states.
