Internet Poker Company May Attempt A Comeback By Buying An Atlantic City Casino

from the hacking-IRL dept

Wed, Feb 20th 2013 9:18am — Timothy Geigner

While it's lost steam, you likely recall what is commonly referred to as the "poker boom" of the 2000s. Due in large part to the sudden interest in the game resulting from ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker, it seemed like everyone was playing. This took the form not only of a massive uptake in friendly neighborhood games, but also in the emergence of online poker as a serious force in the internet world. That is, of course, until the United States government, conversely beholden to a largely religious lobbying effort coupled with an inability to collect taxes on the gaming, decided to shut down most of the popular poker sites. The result of the efforts by these anti-freedom groups was the crafting of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which then led to the takedowns of all kinds of poker sites. Predictably, this simply caused those sites to relocate domains and move their money processing facilities offshore, further depriving the government of both oversight and any chance at revenue. Recently, Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey, has sought to expand legalizing online gambling in his state, and is currently working through the legislative/vetoing process to do so as he sees fit.

Which brings us to today, where a company called the Rational Group, owners of the previously popular PokerStars and Full Tilt sites, is looking into buying a distressed Atlantic City casino, giving them a legitimate home-base of operations within America, allowing them to reopen their online poker doors, and providing a massive revenue opportunity to the state of New Jersey.

Rational is taking its own gamble (sorry) in trying to develop a US base within the Atlantic Club, which lost $13.6 million during the first three quarters of last year amid declining revenue. The problem for Rational, however, is that its crown jewels are still on shaky footing with US regulators. In July, PokerStars paid $547 million to the DoJ and $184 million to foreign players in a bid to settle charges. The question now is whether or not the slate has been wiped clean.

"Both companies had issues with U.S. law when, in 2011, the Department of Justice closed down [PokerStars's and Full Tilt's] websites after they continued accepting U.S. bets," attorney Jason Gross told Press of Atlantic City. "Here you have these two companies, both owned by Rational Group, that went farther than most companies, and it may create further issues."

Let's avoid mincing words here: the idea that legal complications stemming from a what was essentially a religious lobbying effort (with some help from the pro and college sports leagues) could prevent a now legitimate business from operating and generating state revenue would be a travesty. A tyranny of the minority serves nobody in this instance. The people want online gambling, the state wants online gambling. Holding Rational's feet to a fire sparked by bad legislation is wrong, particularly when that company wants to invest into a distressed NJ business and help turn it around.

With that said, the broader point appears to be that online gaming is going to come back, whether Rational succeeds in this endeavor or not. As the article notes:

By legally forcing online gaming to have a home casino in the States, it could both reopen the online market while also capitalizing on that sweet tax revenue. Rational and its all-powerful brands might not bring online poker back, but it does look increasingly likely that online gaming is coming back.

And, in my opinion, not a moment too soon. I'm all for religious freedom and belief, but those stop where my freedom begins. The sooner the government gets out of the business of enforcing morality on the internet, the better.

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Filed Under: casino, chris christie, internet gambling, new jersey
Companies: full tilt, pokerstars, rational group

20 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 9:39am

Politicians Sure Can Pick Winners
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-19/new-jersey-casino-files-bankruptcy-ten-months-after-opening -no-taxpayer-funds-will-b

Chris Christie said "I think that one of the things that Revel will be is a catalyst for additional modernization and investment by the other casinos to say, listen, if we grow more people here coming to the region and we're offering something that looks nice further down the boardwalk, maybe people will want to look there as well."

Fat fuck must have been thinking about cheesburgers (horse) at the time.

And people think he is a good govenor and would make a good president...

jobs, jobs, jobs... we do not need more jobs. What the fuck has all this "progress" been for over the last century. All this technology and we are still slaves to needing a job? Mis-guided tech if you ask me.
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silverscarcat (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 9:48am

Re: Politicians Sure Can Pick Winners
Don't worry, once the robots take over every single job imaginable, then the government will be forced to pay people money just to live and tax the hell out of those who have it.

Then we won't have jobs anymore.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 9:58am

Are you an anarchist?
You must be an anarchist since you think everything should be legal because you want it to be. Are you implying the government doesn't have the right to outlaw or regulate anything? Or just the things you are interested in?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:00am

Oooh, let me try!
You must be a fascist since you think everything should be illegal because you want it to be. Are you implying the government has the right to outlaw or regulate everything? Or just the things you aren't interested in?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:05am

Re: Re: Politicians Sure Can Pick Winners
Fuck the govt. it is obviously a big part of the problem. Govt. has a lot of power to "steer the ship" but they are too close minded and only think in the short-term (like public companies). It is not about getting a hand out from the govt. it is about making smart choices.

When the promoted mentality is to accumulate more and more to accomodate us on our short stay on this planet then anyone who falls into this paradigm is misguided (myself included). The need for more jobs is a fallacy. Production without demand is detrimental to people, animals and the planet. Everybody dies but not everybody lives.

Is the purpose in life to have a job so that you can pay taxes to fund wars and the overclass while having a little left over to buy things you think you need?
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Dark Helmet (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:11am

Re: Are you an anarchist?
I'm pro-freedom and believe in the right to rule being at the pleasure of the ruled. What is it about freedom you don't like?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:18am

Its infuriating to think where online poker would be today if those fucking cunts in govt had stayed away, its massive travesty.
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Ninja (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:29am

Re: Oooh, let me try!
Have my insightful vote, dear sir.

The thing is that the regulation came because of veiled interests, not to benefit society and economy as a whole. Or rather they wanted to benefit the economy but it backfired.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:34am

Don't forget some short sighted US casino's also lobbied against online gambling because they feared no one would come into their casino's then, and now they're losing money to online gambling, great long term thinking of them.
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gorehound (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:39am

Go Antigua Go ! USA Government has screwed over their Nation because of the Online Casino Ban.
Get your Pirate Flag Waving High !
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Berenerd (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 11:02am

I hope they do make it back. I made $100-$150/ week playing poker online with pokerstars. It would be nice to have that income again.
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ChrisB (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 11:24am

Re:
I agree. This is a perfect example of "a lowering tide drops all boats." Vegas hated online gambling because they thought it was taking money away from them. In fact, it was creating more money, by keeping interest in the game high between trips to Vegas.

That's not even all of it. By making it illegal and difficult to get money into and out of the sites, the whole thing became more risky, culminating in lots of people losing money.

This is similar to piracy, with media companies thinking piracy is a lost sale, when in fact it keeps people engaged with media they otherwise couldn't afford. Playstation and XBOX are going to learn this soon when they announce their expensive new systems with download-only games and locked down ecosystems. These next gen consoles are going to be disappointed in sales.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 11:32am

Re: Re: Are you an anarchist?
So if the ruled wants it to be illegal, you aren't ok with that? Where did you show that the people actually want gambling to be legal? What percentage of the population should want something to be legal before it is?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 12:54pm

Uhm last time I heard about shutting down online gambling, I was told they did it because of evil fraud and tax evasion?

Sigh... Guess I was misled...
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2013 @ 1:00pm

Re: Re: Re: Are you an anarchist?
Only people who don't understand how probability works care about gambling being legal.
So, probably about 75%-90% of the population care.

May as well let 'em have what they want. They want to trust in "luck" more than math, they'll get what they deserve, and they'll have only themselves to blame.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 1:37pm

Re:
"Sigh... Guess I was misled..."

Yes, you were. This was a combination of the religious right and the taxation left getting together to keep people from playing a game they wanted, in ever-growing numbers, to play....
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G Thompson (profile), 20 Feb 2013 @ 10:27pm

Re: Re: Re: Are you an anarchist?
What percentage of the population should want something to be legal before it is?

The majority.. This is the fundamental rule of any democracy!
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Gamgling
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