After being locked out of the American online poker market and paying hundreds of millions to the Department of Justice, PokerStars is now eyeing a purchase that could grant them a strong foothold for re-entering the US market. The Wall Street Journal first published news of a potential deal between PokerStars and The Atlantic Club, a New Jersey based casino. The purchase price was estimated at $50 million.
While that amount may seem paltry compared to the $731 million payment that PokerStars made to settle the DOJ’s civil charges and repay the non-US Full Tilt customers, the effects could be enormous. The purchase of a land based US casino, along with recent advances in pro-online poker laws, could open the door for PokerStars to offer online poker within the boundaries of certain states. Three states: New Jersey, Nevada and California, are currently seeking ways to allow online poker within their states as a means to increase tax revenue.
Without a doubt, these state governments and online poker players are eagerly awaiting news on this potential purchase, as it will bring PokerStars very close to opening the doors to certain American players. However, PokerStars’ competitors are certainly frowning at this news. Zynga, the Boyd Gaming Group and Caesars Entertainment have all expressed a strong interest in offering real money online poker games to the American market.
Caesars Entertainment has already aligned itself with 888 Holdings while MGM and the Boyd Gaming Group has previously entered into a partnership with bwin.Party. Both moves were done in an attempt to fast track online games to the American or individual state markets as soon as laws allow it. Earlier this year Zynga also confirmed its intentions to offer real money games to their members. Zynga’s free play poker application on Facebook has become somewhat of a behemoth, in part due to Black Friday when Americans were shut out of real money online poker play.
If PokerStars is able to complete their deal and purchase the cash-strapped Atlantic Club Casino, they too would have a strong claim on being able to offer real money internet poker due to their physical casino ownership. While PokerStars’ payment to the US Government doesn’t give them any expressed permission to re-enter the US online poker market, it will certainly give them an advantage when that door opens back up.