According to the Wall Street Journal and the Las Vegas Review Journal, Full Tilt Poker has teamed up with Fertitta Interactive to back Federal legislation legalizing online poker. Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, the owners of Station Casinos, also own Fertitta Interactive. However, according to the news outlets, no tie-in with Station Casinos is expected.
Tom Breitling, another co-owner of Fertitta Interactive, told the Review Journal in an e-mail on Wednesday, “Our arrangement with Full Tilt is confidential, but it is contingent on the passage of Federal legislation regulating internet poker.”
On the motivation to back nationwide legislation and not an intrastate online poker bill already in the works in Nevada, Breitling told the Sin City news outlet, “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.”
On the name of a site when and if online poker is completely above board in the United States, Tiltware’s Ray Bitar told the Wall Street Journal that he “couldn’t disclose the terms of the alliance with Fertitta Interactive, but that Full Tilt would continue to operate in the U.S. under the same name.”
Full Tilt Poker is the second largest site in the industry and, according to PokerScout.com, hosts a seven-day running average of 15,800 real money ring game players. It lags well behind its chief competitor, PokerStars, whose running average stands at 37,400. PokerStars is fresh off dealing its 60 billionth hand earlier this week and both leading sites accept USA players.
A representative of Station Casinos told Poker News Daily that Fertitta Interactive is a subset of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC. Therefore, according to the Journal, we could see a UFC tie-in with Full Tilt down the road.
On TwoPlusTwo, player reaction largely focused on the Station Casinos brand, although whether the company will be involved in any way with Full Tilt once regulation occurs appears to be in doubt.
To that end, Full Tilt has not yet announced the location for its Las Vegas Onyx Cup events, which will occur in May, July, and December. Many had speculated that the partnership with Station Casinos could bring the six-figure buy-in tournament series to one of the company’s Las Vegas gaming establishments, but that does not appear to be the case.
On the similarities between UFC and poker, one poster on TwoPlusTwo wrote, “Think about the kind of progress the UFC has made in licensing and regulation. In the early days, they were banned in 30+ states and now put on shows all over the U.S. (and indeed the world), sanctioned by regional athletics commissions. That sort of experience is extremely relevant to online poker.”
The agreement marks the third this month between an online poker site and a company with land-based gambling ties. Last week, PokerStars and Wynn Resorts announced a partnership backing Federal regulation of online poker, which would ultimately lead to the introduction of PokerStarsWynn.com when and if the industry is legalized.
Also forging a relationship with a land-based casino entity was 888, which teamed up with Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment in early March to expand the World Series of Poker brand in the United Kingdom. At the time of the agreement, Mitch Garber, CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, explained the significance of the joint venture: “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.”
A formal press release from Full Tilt Poker and Fertitta Interactive is due out later today.