Poker Stars New Jersey Plans Hit Opposition
This was published 06-03-2013Poker Stars, the worlds largest online poker room, recently announced plans to return to the US gambling market by acquiring the Atlantic Club land casino and hotel resort on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. New Jersey recently legalized intrastate online gambling, and Poker Stars plans to roll out its own software from its new land base once it receives a license from the necessary authorities.
However, this week, Poker Stars’ plans hit their first snag when they learned that the country’s biggest trade groups representing land casinos in the United States, the American Gaming Association, has filed an official objection to the group being given a license by the New Jersey gambling authorities.
The AGA has accused Poker Stars of being a business “built on deceit”, accusing it of flouting the law and threatening the integrity of the gambling industry. It asked the New Jersey gambling authorities not to grant Poker Stars a license, essentially breaking a long time taboo of meddling in the internal licensing process of individual states.
Poker Stars reacted swiftly and sharply to the AGA’s claim and replied through the group’s spokesperson, Eric Rollheiser: “These are matters for expert regulators to determine, not self-interested partisans picking a public fight. The U.S. Department of Justice has said PokerStars is suitable to apply for a license in the U.S. and saw fit to give us the assets of our largest competitor and entrust us to compensate their customers outside of the U.S. We will continue to work with authorities including the NJ regulators and other interested state regulators to discuss our qualifications and allow them to comment on what they find.”
Hollreiser also pointed out that “PokerStars is one of the largest and most respected internet gaming companies because we work closely with regulators and are in good standing with governments around the world, holding licenses in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Estonia, Belgium, Malta and Isle of Man. ”
It seems that the industry is in for a very long and public battle between the two entities.
