Online Casino News and Information

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a team of experts to implement Internet wagering in New Jersey. In fact, in light of the recent legalization of online gambling in the state, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has enlisted the help of Mario Galea, a former gambling regulator from Malta.

With Wall Street analysts touting the online gambling revolution as the key to turning around the city’s declining revenues, Atlantic City is pulling out all the stops to make sure its online gambling launch is both seamless and effective. Mr. Galea, who was selected from a field of seven experts, begins working with New Jersey this week. With 15 years experience in the field, and with a considerable chunk of that as the CEO of Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta, Galea has a lot to offer New Jersey. And New Jersey, who has a very aggressive launch timeline, has a lot to learn.

Beginning on November 26, 2013, the New Jersey online gambling law allows its casinos to offer online gambling to its customers. David Rebuck, Director of NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement, believes the timeline may not be realistic. “It’s so new, so you don’t want to make a significant error that sets us back from implementing it,” he said.

Yet just the mention of online gambling seems to be breathing new life into Atlantic City. The new bill could create as many as 2,000 new jobs in its first year alone, and the taxes generated from online gambling will benefit the state’s senior and disabled citizens.

Nevada gaming regulators are determining the relationship between Ultimate Poker and an unlicensed service provider. Ultimate Poker, owned largely by Station Casinos, is the first legal online poker room in the United States currently available only to Nevada-based players.

The unlicensed service provider is Iovation, a company that was linked to a 2008 online cheating scandal where players could peek at the hole cards of other players and resulted in a speculated loss of over $20 million in four years.

A.G. Burnett, Chairman of the Gaming Control Board, stated that the agency is working with officials from Ultimate Poker to determine the extent of the relationship. As of last weekend, an Ultimate Poker spokesperson stated the company had discontinued using services from Iovation, addressing several concerns placed on poker forums and threads regarding Iovation and its ties to the disgraced UltimateBet (no relation). “We understand that there were concerns among some of our customers. We hope this makes our players feel more comfortable,” the statement added.

Iovation was a sub-contractor for CAMS, a Nevada-approved service provider. The use of Iovation caught the attention of several online poker players, who rang up the forums, websites, and news threads loud enough to encourage a company response.

Said Burnett in a statement, “This is in the category of where the ultimate responsibility rests upon the licensee, and I know they are addressing the issue. We, in turn, will analyze what we receive back from Ultimate and decide how to proceed from there.”

According to its Facebook page, which currently lists almost 46,000 likes, Ultimate Poker is plowing ahead. Over the weekend, it released Verizon-friendly updates so that people on “America’s Largest and Most Reliable Network” can join in on the fun.

Customer services accessibility and issues are resolvintg, as is expected from an online poker site that was wildly anticipated. According to the comments on the Ultimate Poker Facebook page, the largest player issues seem to be confirming in-state IP addresses when using internet hotspot services. These, among other issues, are sure to be ironed out in the coming weeks and months.

Aside from the current issue with Iovation, Ultimate Poker has received fairly good reviews for its tournaments and services. It reached its 100,000th hand within one week and had 50 active tables after just three days of operation. It’s first real-money online poker tournament saw a Las Vegas resident walk away from his computer with $4,173. The winner, Mr. Daniel Healy, said it best:

“It is really exciting to be a part of history, winning the first tournament. I have been keeping up with the news updates and poker blogs ever since Black Friday hit and was extremely excited to hear that online poker is here.”

The drama continues between PokerStars and Atlantic Club Casino Hotel and, as more details of the sale have been revealed, the rest of the world.

It’s your standard online poker giant falls in love with land-based casino, online poker giant offers to wed casino, casino calls off the engagement, poker giant pursues court to prevent casino from marrying anyone else kind of story. Only this story has a few more players, a few more plot twists, and a surprising lack of initial investment.

After The Atlantic Club backed out of the sale , the Rational Group, owner of PokerStars, shook its fist at the heavens and vowed the deal was not dead. And then it walked itself to a New Jersey court on Monday to get a retraining order barring The Atlantic Club from selling itself to anyone else.

Those court papers revealed the piece of information we’ve been waiting for: the purchase price. According to PokerStars, the purchase agreement equaled a jaw-dropping, disbelief-faced $15 million, which, if the deal eventually goes through, will make it the lowest amount ever paid for a casino. Ever.

In its application for the temporary restraining order, the Rational Group states that Resorts International (current owners of the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel) violated the New Jersey Control Act by attempting to cancel a casino purchase after the application for casino operator approval had begun. According to the complaint, Resorts International had asked for a $4 million termination fee regarding the purchase agreement. Rational went on to say that they had already provided Resorts International with $11 million of the $15 million purchase price.

“Should Rational comply with this demand, Rational would have paid the entire purchase price and received exactly nothing in return,” the complaint concludes.

The initial hearing has been scheduled for May 17th with Judge Batten.

The Rational Group, parent company of PokerStars online poker, stated its intention to salvage the deal with the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, even as the Atlantic Club announced on Wednesday that it is calling off the sale.

Said company spokesperson Eric Hollrseiser in a statement, ”The Rational Group is remains entirely committed to resolving this situation and to our investment in New Jersey.”

The deal unraveled earlier this week as the Rational Group failed to obtain regulatory approval to take over the casino. Hollreiser said the Rational Group wanted to extend the deadline and pursue further negotiations, but had received a “purported notice of termination”. Hollreiser added, “It was the Rational Group’s expectation and understanding, based on the ongoing dealings between the parties, that the closing date would be extended to allow the transaction to be completed.”

The “will-they-or-won’t-they” drama has surrounded this deal from its beginnings. PokerStars was criticized by the American Gaming Association, who’s president called it a “criminal enterprise” when referring to PokerStars and its run-in with the US Department of Justice; the AGA submitted a rather brief to state regulators as well. State Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, upon hearing of the collapse of the sale, released a statement stating:

“New Jersey is known for its rigorous licensing practices. To become involved with a company like this one would have been an insult to everyone who has gone under scrutiny to work or do business in the casino industry over the last 30 years.”

While PokerStars admitted no guilt regarding the charges by the US Department of Justice, it did agree to settle for $731 million and has since kept a fairly transparent and clean record with the United States.

The Atlantic Club, which has been financially crippled through the recession and storm events, has been regarded as a casino with the most to gain from Internet gambling. While it’s losses last year totaled $19.2 million last year alone, the casino is showing signs of recovery in 2013, with revenue climbing 24% in the first quarter. Whether or not this was tied to the proposed PokerStars sale is not yet known.

UltimatePoker.com went live this morning at 9am Nevada time, after given the thumbs up from the state’s gaming authorities. While the launch is sending waves of reaction throughout the United States, its online poker games can only be played on computers and mobile devices located within the Nevada borders.

“The technology was acquired and initially developed by a U.S.-based company with a completely clean regulatory profile,” said Tobin Prior, CEO of Ultimate Gaming in a Review Journal article. “Being the first to launch is an honor, but it also comes with a big responsibility. Everyone will be watching us.”

With online poker games having buy-ins starting at just a few pennies up to $100, Ultimate Poker will provide something for every type of poker player. It will feature limit and no-limit Texas hold’em poker through single-table cash games, multi-table tournaments, and sit-and-go events.

The first 30 days of the launch are considered to be a a beta test by the Nevada gaming authorities. Reported errors, if any, have the ability to be fixed immediately, and a report will be provided at the end of May to the gaming authorities that will indicate wagering activity, customer feedback, and other rollout statistics.

Those non-Nevada-based players can register and deposit money in advance of their visit as long as they are at least 21 years of age.

UltimatePoker.com has enlisted WSOP champion Antonio Esfandiari to promote the website. Esfandiari recently won the largest World Series of Poker jackpot of $18.3 million last summer. As the first online poker site to reach the market, Ultimate Poker owes a lot to the fact that it owns and controls its own technology.

While the launch is certainly a milestone in the realm of US poker, it is the first of many ground-breaking moments in Nevada. Since Governor Brian Sandoval lead the change to allow the governor to enter into compacts with other states to increase the online poker player pool, there will soon be a push to increase player liquidity, a necessity for the viability of any online poker room. And Ultimate Poker is the first of several online poker site launches we’ll see in the coming months.

Foxwoods Resort Casino has announced plans to partner with the GameAccount Network to prepare for online gaming opportunities in the United States. Foxwoods, which is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, is making the move for several reasons. Said the tribe in a statement, published in a Hartford Courant article:

 ”The alliance brings together the owners and operators of the largest resort casino in North America and one of Europe’s leading independent privately owned Internet gaming system and software providers. The parties will initially focus on play-for-fun online gaming opportunities in the U.S., and in the event that legislation is enacted allowing real-money wagering, the parties will utilize GameAccount’s cutting edge technology and platform to ensure a safe and fair game for all players.”

Like all agreements in the land-based and online gambling arena, the partnership is subject to regulatory approval.

The prospects for online gambling are promising for the tribe as its website, Foxwoods.com, gets about one million monthly visitors. If approved, the tribe states it will offering free-play Internet gaming later on this year, and will later be collaborating with GameAccount to provide services to other US gambling operators. Foxwoods’ main competitor, Mohegan Sun, reached a similar agreement online poker agreement with Vegas-based Bally Technologies last year.

Betfair, an popular online gambling company, has just rejected a $1.4 billion takeover offer from CVC Capital Partners, the largest shareholder in Formula One motor racing. The reason? The offer consisted of too little money and too many strings attached.

Analysts do not see the attempted takeover as a “knock-out bid”; rather than turn Betfair off to a possible buy-out, it may make them consider other options. It may also attract the attention of other, weightier buyers.

The bid from CVC was rejected by the Betfair board of directors as they felt it “fundamentally undervalues the company and its attractive prospects, and is highly conditional,” as quoted in a Reuters article.

The online gambling arena is growing and expanding at a noticeable rate, and some analysts and conglomerates see the industry as ripe for consolidation.

Founded in 2000, Betfair operates a unique online gambling platform that allows online gamblers to place bets against one another, thereby eliminating the need for a bookie or middleman. Betfair intends to make a statement to its shareholders on May 7th.

New York State Senator Tim Kennedy believes the legalized online gambling in surrounding states could lead to increased levels of “illegal and predatory activities”, and he’s asked the New York State Gaming Commission, the NYSGC, to do something about it.

“There are some websites that have lured customers into using their online casino platform,” stated Kennedy in a press release on his website. “They have built a customer base, but very few people are aware of the egregious actions they have taken over the years. These sites are stacking the deck and consumers are losing – and losing big. We need to prevent these bad actors from getting a license to behave this way anywhere in the country and especially prevent them from targeting minors and those suffering from gambling addiction.”

The Tim Kennedy press release also states a concern that current state law offers no way to enforce or deter illegal gambling sites from entering the New York market, and therefore little recourse for people affected by predatory sites. Additionally, he points out that “every dollar spent on gambling online illegally is lost revenue for casinos in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, which employ thousands of Western New Yorkers.”

Senator Kennedy has called upon the NYSGC to investigate illegal online gambling and protect New Yorkers from predatory sites. The state’s gaming commission has not yet issued a response.

Senator Tim M. Kennedy represents the 63rd District of New York State.

According to New Jersey Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, New Jersey’s Internet gambling revenues could reach $1.2 billion and bring in $180 million in tax revenues during its first full fiscal year (July 1, 2013-Jun 30, 2014).

Some consider this estimate to be a bit optimistic, even if the numbers provided by a Wells Fargo senior analyst are strong. NJ lawmakers are as skeptical as they are hopeful that these reports are accurate.

Under the current online gambling legislating, the Division of Gaming Enforcement will need to deliver and implement gambling regulations between late May and late November. Several other factors are unknowns, including when companies are ready to go online, when the regulations will be published, and how much publicity and excitement will be generated and capitalized upon.

New Jersey is the most populated stated to approve online gambling; Delaware and, of course, Nevada, have also legalized Internet gambling. New Jersey is charging at 15% tax rate, which estimates revenue to be upwards of $225 million per year over the next five years if predictive numbers can be believed.

As more and more states re-evaluate their stances on online gambling, international mobile gaming companies like Probability PLC are poised and ready for the US online gambling market. Probability PLC, for one, is in “advanced talks” with potential US partners to break into the American online gambling market, according to a Reuters article.

“Within a couple of years, half the population of the United States will live either in a state or very close to somewhere they can gamble for real money through their mobile phone or desktop,” Probability Chief Executive Charles Cohen told Reuters in an interview. While he mentioned his company was getting “a lot of interest” from companies in the United States, he didn’t name any names.

Partnerships between international software companies and US casino owners have already started to spring up. MGM Resorts International and bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc have teamed up to introduced online poker in Nevada; the same can also be said of Caesars Entertainment Corporation and 888 Holdings Plc.

The mobile gaming area is the next generation of online gambling, particularly as it caters to a demographic that prefers not to be tethered to a desk. Cohen estimates that mobile gaming could account for as much as 60% of the total European online gambling market in as few as three years.