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The Vegas marriages are starting to heat up, only they’re not taking place in tiny little chapels with would be ministers.
Casino giant Wynn Resorts announced Thursday its newly formed alliance with online poker’s biggest firm, PokerStars, following word that the Nevada state regulatory body had approved a similar arrangement between European i-Gaming behemoth 888.com and Caesar’s Entertainment. PartyPoker and MGM had entered into a similar alliance last year.
PokerStars is lobbying to pass legislation that would allow for Internet poker companies to operate freely in the US via Nevada. Other Vegas juggernauts are pushing for federal legislation that would seemingly exclude Gibraltar-based PokerStars, which is currently one of the few Web card rooms that still takes business from the US.
As part of the agreement, the two companies plan to run a site called PokerStarsWynn.com.
“I don’t know if this is up there with Continental merging with United Airlines but a PokerStars-Wynn merger would certainly be massive,” expressed Aaron Goldstein, Business reporter for the Gambling911.com website.
Nevada Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, who supports the PokerStars backed measure (AB 258) said: “I see internet gaming as the next extension of how Nevada reinvents itself. This is the growth vehicle for the gaming industry worldwide.”
The bill failed to make any headway during a hearing on Thursday, however.
- Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
