Home / Poker News May 2013 / PokerStars –Atlantic Club Deal Expires
PokerStars –Atlantic Club Deal Expires
Posted by: James Carter. - Fri, 2013-05-03 11:45
PokerStars’ initial announcement regarding the plans of Rational Group - its owner - to acquire a live gambling operator (the Atlantic Club Casino) in New Jersey, was met with a certain amount of skepticism by experts from the very beginning and with good reason. There were apparently plenty of interests opposed to PokerStars’ presence in the Garden State, even as the initiator of the recently passed
online poker bill, Sen Raymond Lesniak, has declared himself a big supporter of the PokerStars project.
Lesniak himself has acknowledged that PokerStars’ opponents were indeed busy trying to undermine the plans of the company to re-gain a foothold in the regulated US market.
Those opponents seem to have scored an early victory the other day, when the deadline for Rational Group to acquire a temporary license from State regulators has passed without any sort of result. The reason was the apparent tardiness of the authorities, as it now looks like they won’t reach a definitive decision on PokerStars’ license until August.
Raymond Lesniak has also said that the deal was still theoretically alive, and PokerStars have also made it clear that they were still committed to the investment, however, it may well be that we have just heard the death-knell of the move regardless. Following the initial statements of the parties concerned, PokerStars have announced that they had received a notice of termination from the current owners of the Atlantic Club.
Among the interests opposing PokerStars’ Garden State expansion, the American Gaming Association has made clear moves to have the company banned from New Jersey: they have filed a complaint with the Division of Gaming Enforcement in March, alleging that PokerStars had operated a criminal enterprise in the US before Black Friday.
If PokerStars could enter the New Jersey market, it could later penetrate other states as well, when New Jersey will inevitably form compacts to expand its online gambling/poker presence.
