Last week a partnership between one of the largest land-based casino conglomerates and the largest online poker room in the world was announced, according to the Las Vegas Sun, as Wynn Resorts and PokerStars declared they would be working toward the passage of legislation to legalize and regulate online poker at the federal level.
The partnership would see the creation of WynnPokerStars.com which would be based in the United States and serve the entire market should online poker legislation be passed at the federal level. Over the past few years more and more brick and mortar casinos have been coming out in favor of legalized online gaming, and instead of seeing the industry as competition to their mega-resorts they know see the profitability of the industry and what in on the action.
PokerStars has been a big supporter of the current legislation that has been proposed in the state of Nevada, but the partnership with Wynn Resorts puts them in a much stronger position at the federal level, which would open up the entire US market to the company.
In the Las Vegas Sun article Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn stated: “After much study, we are convinced that the lack of regulation of Internet gaming within the U.S. must change… We must recognize that this activity is occurring and that law enforcement does not have the tools to stop it. As a company that has safely conducted gaming in the U.S. for more than 40 years, we believe that the same can be done for poker on the Internet.”
PokerStars Chairman Mark Scheinberg was quoted as saying: “(PokerStars) has been endorsing the adoption of the same approach in the United States for years, with this alliance representing a critical step in that direction… We are excited about the opportunities that partnering with Wynn, a pioneering leader and innovator in gaming, will present for PokerStars in the United States.”
As the battles for the United States market of online gaming heats up I would expect a number of other such mergers to occur, as it seems the US gaming industry that is currently in place will be the first licensees when the industry becomes regulated, and these partnerships give them a ready-made online gaming company, complete with branding and a player base.
The Wynn/PokerStars partnership will likely work closely with the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and other grass-roots groups like iMEGA when it comes time to lobby Congress: One such possibility is the recently introduced Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act by John Campbell (R-CA) and Barney Frank (D-MA).
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Written by Steve Ruddock on March 29th, 2011