PokerStars To Buy New Jersey Casino – Confirmed

It has been a rumour that has been doing the rounds for quite a few weeks now, with the parent company of PokerStars finally confirming it to be true. PokerStars have made an agreement to buy The Atlantic Club Casino. PokerStars are now just waiting for authorization from the authorities in New Jersey, to seal the deal completely.

PokerStars parent company, Rational Group, which also now owns Full Tilt Poker confirmed all of this yesterday when Eric Hollreiser, who is the Head of Communications of the Rational Group released a statement yesterday.

The New Jersey Division Of Gaming Enforcement has also confirmed that the Rational Group has submitted an application with regards to obtaining an interim casino authorization. The NJDGE now has 90 days to draw up and submit a report of its own investigations to the Casino Control Commission, who then in turn have 30 days to make a decision one way or another.

The casino is widely known to have been struggling recently, so the news that they will be now owned by PokerStars will be great news to the 2,000 employees that currently work there.

The hard times that the casino has seen over the last few years has been attributed to the fact that there have been a number of ownership changes, with the impending expectation that online gambling is to be legalized in the state also not going to help them.

PokerStars Moving Into The Live Casino Sector

For anyone that has been following the news in recent months, this is not new territory for PokerStars, they announced back in October last year a partnership and investment in the historical Hippodrome Casino which is found in London. They are currently refurbishing the casinos card room and having it re-branded, whilst they will also supply the Hippodrome with an online platform for their poker.

Then in December they did it again, acquiring the card room at another world famous casino. This time it was the Casino Gran Madrid, which is located rather obviously in Madrid, Spain.

This is a smart move by PokerStars, who want a slice of the action in the USA, whether that is online or live, though they would undoubtedly admit they would like both. With the prospect of online gambling being allowed, at the very least in some states in the near future, PokerStars will want to be one of the first through the doors.

Though the deal is still in the hands of the required authorities, within the next two months, PokerStars could well have their first card room on American soil.