Mark Giannantonio Says Resorts Casino Online Beta Testing Is Set for the Next Several Weeks
Resorts Casino got final approval to enter New Jersey’s licensed online gambling market this week. The Divison of Gaming Enforcement approved a license for the Atlantic City casino to conduct legal online casino and poker site gambling in the state.
The approval came after a five-day test period in which DGE inspectors verified that the Resorts Casino equipment and software systems were working. In the coming weeks, Resorts should begin beta testing, a process in which real money gamblers are allowed to win and lose money on the site. The address for the site is www.ResortsCasino.com.
Beta Testing of Software
Resorts President Mark Giannantonio told the Miami Herald that a full launch of his company’s gaming site should occur in the next few weeks. Mr. Giannantonio said that the beta testing is going to be an important time for his site’s development, so he encouraged New Jersey players to register an account, play on the site, and submit feedback to Resorts Casino. The company’s executive said such feedback would be noticed and acted upon.
The Resorts Casino president said, “During our beta period, we will invite players to sign up and provide feedback on the user experience, while we add additional features before our official launch. Real-time feedback will be an important aspect of our beta period as we further enhance the gaming content and features to produce the best casino experience in New Jersey.”
Sixth Legal Online Operator
Resorts Casino joins five other Atlantic City casinos in offering legal online casinos and poker rooms. The other five operators at present are Borgata, Caesars, Bally’s, Tropicana, and Golden Nugget. Each of the Atlantic City casinos partners with a long time online gaming software provider, licensing the software for a share of the revenues.
Originally, Resorts Casino had signed a partnership with PokerStars, the most successful of the many online poker sites in the international gambling scene. That deal was signed in June 2013. For 5 months, most analysts speculated that Resorts Casino’s online product would be one of the best, because of the access to PokerStars software and its playing community.
Black Friday Fallout
Then, in October 2013, just one month before the New Jersey rollout of online gambling, the Division of Gaming Enforcement suspended the licensing process for PokerStars and Resorts Casino. The issue at stake was PokerStars’ troubles with the U.S. Justice Department, stemming from the Black Friday Scandal.
PokerStars had accepted American players from January 1, 2007 until April 15, 2011, when the Justice Department seized the domains of PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, and Cereus (which owned Absolute Poker/UltimateBet). The US government eventually sought $3 billion in damages from PokerStars, which also was accused of influencing smaller American banks to disguise the identity of US gamblers. For that reason, PokerStars executives had been indicted by US authorities, even after the company had settled its outstanding issues in court.
Therefore, the DGE did not want to approve gaming executives who were indicted in the United States. Instead of denying the application, the process was suspended and waiting further details.
Enter: Amaya Gaming
Those details changed in August 2014, when Amaya Gaming spent $5 billion to purchase Rational Media, which itself owns PokerStars and FullTilt Poker. The PokerStars executives involved in Black Friday soon had left the company.
Because of his company’s solid reputation and 60 gaming licenses in the United States, Amaya Gaming’s CEO, David Baazov, hoped to gain licensing for PokerStars sooner rather than later. State Sen. Ray Lesniak predicted an October 2014 entry into the market by PokerStars, but that entry is forthcoming.
Sportech NYX and PokerStars
Tired of waiting, Resorts Casino decided to go in another direction. The software to be used in the beta testing is Sportech NYX Gaming LLC. Mark Giannantonio has said that PokerStars would join the operation, as soon as it is approved for a license.
Licensing is thought to be a possibility still. In fact, it could happen soon. Just after the beginning of the year, Raymond Lesniak predicted PokerStars would be licensed soon–perhaps as early as March 2015. The beginning of the month is upon us, but no announcements are yet made.
Until PokerStars is ready, Resorts Casino and Sportech NYX should be working out the proverbial kinks. Aging a website and getting technical difficulties out of the way is a good start. Once PokerStars and Amaya Gaming is part of the mix, ResortsCasino.com could become a top player in the New Jersey gaming market.
