Hintze: PokerStars Getting Licensed in Delaware an Uphill Battle

Haley Hintze of 4Flush.com raises some interesting points as it relates to PokerStars obtaining an online poker license in the state of Delaware.  The odds are long based on how the Delaware Lottery itself envisions its interactive gaming process.

Last week, the poker media had Stars topping the list of 14 companies that have applied for licenses in tiny Delaware (population under 1 million people). 

“Operations Management” is listed at the top of the vendor food chain as per the Delaware Lottery’s selection process.  The “Operations Management” would oversee customer service, fraud protection and player segregation, among other things. 

PokerStars may have superior software, as Hintze rightfully points out, but they more than likely won’t qualify as a “primary vendor”. 

From 4Flush.com: 

At least three of the fourteen entities likely to submit bids offer a wide range of products and have to be considered the frontrunners for the primary vendor spot: IGT, the Amaya-Bally pairing and the SciGames/WMS/888 grouping.

Here’s the problem for Stars: All three of them will have access to an online-poker software suite that’s already in global competition with Stars, a selling point that’ll be brought up to Delaware officials when it comes time to choose the poker vendor.

Regardless of Stars superior software, Hintze notes that this is easily counterbalanced by the topic of system compatibility. 

The software packages offered by these large, composite vendors are far more likely to be able to have all the parts working together seamlessly.  The prospect of Amaya trying to integrate Stars software into an online-gaming system offering slots, keno, bingo and other games seems redundant when Amaya already has both 888 and Cryptologic among its own offerings..

That puts Stars a bit behind the eight ball, no matter who ends up getting the primary vendor deal.  SciGames, with an existing lottery contract with Delaware, may be the early frontrunner among all the competing firms, SciGames has ready access to 888 (Pacific Poker), which represents a similar fallen tree across the Stars-Delaware horse-and-buggy trail.

For the time being, PokerStars top priority appears to be the acquisition of Atlantic City’s Atlantic Club Casino.  New Jersey lawmakers have already embraced Stars entry into the New Jersey online gambling market. 

But even that is not entirely carved in stone as the American Gaming Association (AGA) has protested the move by PokerStars.  It was also revealed last week that Stars had yet to file the prerequisite Interim Casino Authorization petition.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com