Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Blog: Flashback to Nevada. October 2011

Blog

Flashback to Nevada. October 2011

Nevada Interactive Gaming Licenses




Shortly after Boyd Gaming was knighted, the Nevada Gaming Commission granted a license to Fertitta Interactive LLC. Fertitta already operates Ultimate Poker, a free-to-play poker game on Facebook, and will now look to transition into the real money space. Ultimate Poker was developed last year after Fertitta acquired gaming company CyberArts Licensing LLC. Fertitta Interactive is a division of Fertitta Entertainment, which owns the Station Casinos and UFC.

Said Tom Breitling, chairman of Ultimate Gaming, “With our unique ability to leverage the overlapping demographics between online gaming, traditional gaming and the worldwide sports and entertainment brand of the UFC, Ultimate Gaming is ideally positioned to rapidly capture a significant following in the United States and throughout the globe.”

Also that same day, Golden Nugget received its license. Bally Technologies, which both received a license and partnered with Golden Nugget in June, will provide the software for the upcoming poker offering. The two already paired up earlier this year to launch a free poker room, GoldenNuggetPoker.com

It remains to be seen which, if any, of the three new licensees will be the first to launch an intrastate online poker room in Nevada. South Point Poker LLC originally believed it was on track to be the vanguard by launching its poker room this month, but slower than expected independent testing has pushed back the go-live date to later this year. Because Fertitta and Golden Nugget already have free money poker rooms running, they could very well be ready to go soon for their real money offerings. Boyd still has to wait for bwin.party’s license, though with the online gaming giant’s experience, the joint company could get something launched quickly once the license is granted.