Sometimes karma can bite you in the butt. World Series of Poker Executive Director Ty Stewart just experienced that pain. Recently, Stewart made light of early troubles that befell Ultimate Poker, the first legal pay-to-play online gambling website in the U.S., which launched April 30.
First, Ultimate was caught using an unlicensed and much maligned service provider to identify new players. Then, a glitch in the website caused two 9 of spades to appear on the flop in a game of hold’em. “I think the market is ready for a first-class product,” Stewart told Case Keefer of the Las Vegas Sun while touting the World Series of Poker’s planned Nevada-based pay-to-play website.
Last week, the World Series of Poker suffered its own glitch. The unlicensed website briefly went live, letting players gain access to the pay-to-play area. Caesars Interactive Entertainment, which owns the World Series of Poker, caught the mistake, shut down the site, and notified Nevada gaming regulators.
The laughter you’re hearing emanates from the corporate headquarters of Station Casinos, majority owner of Ultimate Gaming, which operates Ultimate Poker. We’ll be seeing this back-and-forth between Station Casinos and Caesars in the months ahead. The companies will dominate Nevada’s fledgling online poker market because the competition is on the sidelines.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. have shown indifference toward online poker. MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming Corp. want seats in the game, but are waiting on licensing of their partner, European online gaming giant Bwin.party.
Last month, Bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger told online gaming publications the company is bypassing Nevada to focus on New Jersey’s Internet gaming potential. Nevada has licensed nearly two dozen casino operators and technology providers for interactive gaming. Ultimate Poker is the lone company in the field.
Caesars Interactive officials have said the company wants to launch the World Series of Poker website during the tournament, which runs through mid-July. Following last week’s glitch, this year’s Main Event November Nine will be seated when the first hands of real-money poker are dealt.
Technology approval isn’t turnkey. Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling said the company delivered more than 100,000 pages of reports to state regulators and independent testing laboratories during the equipment certification process.
Caesars, a partner of 888 Holdings, is starting to understand the challenge. You can read more at the Review Journal.
