|
Apr
05
|
The Wall Street Journal and the Las Vegas Review Journal have both reported that Full Tilt Poker has partnered with Fertitta Interactive (Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, also the owners of Station Casinos and the UFC brand, though no association is being made with the Stations or UFC brands, though there may be a tie-in down the road with the UFC). The partnership will work to back legislation at the Federal level to aid in the efforts to legalize online poker.
A third co-owner of Fertitta Interactive, Tom Breitling, reportedly said in an email to the Review Journal recently, “Our arrangement with Full Tilt is confidential, but it is contingent on the passage of Federal legislation regulating internet poker.”
The motivation is to back nationwide legislation rather than intrastate bills, which are already being pursued in Nevada, Breitling says, “We believe that a Federal law for online poker is the way to go. We do believe that a Federal online poker bill would be good for Nevada. Nevada is a leader in gaming regulation and we need the thousands of high-paying high-tech jobs and the millions in tax revenues associated with online poker.”
It has been said that the Full Tilt Poker name will still be used for US operations, which is likely important because the brand is already globally recognized, especially in the US, as it is the second largest online poker site in the industry with nearly 16,000 real money players average per day, compared to PokerStars, the number one online poker brand, which runs an average of almost 38,000 real money poker players.
Though there was speculations surrounding the Station Casinos being partnered with Full Tilt Poker and possibly being the upcoming venue for Full Tilt Poker’s Las Vegas Onyx Cup in May, July, and December, it is doubtful that the Stations brand will be representing Full Tilt or vice versa.
This comes after the news that PokerStars had announced a team up with Steve Wynn and the Wynn Resorts brand and Caesars (owners of the WSOP) had teamed up with 888. CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Mitch Garber, says of the joint venture with 888, “It confirms that internet gaming is a reality. It should allow us to look more and more at a Federally regulated environment in the United States.”