According to Wicked Chops, Full Tilt Poker could become the next online poker room to partner with a land-based casino. Wicked Chops explained in an article posted late last week, “We’ve recently heard from a number of Las Vegas and online poker insiders that Full Tilt Poker, the second largest U.S.-facing online operator, is in talks to form a strategic alliance with Station Casinos.”
Recently, rival site PokerStars announced a partnership with Wynn Resorts in which the two companies would jointly service the U.S. market via PokerStarsWynn.com when and if the industry is legalized and regulated. Legalization could take months or even years, leaving Full Tilt, CEREUS, and other sites plenty of time to create partnerships of their own.
Caesars Entertainment, which was formerly Harrah’s Entertainment, recently inked a deal with London-based 888 to expand its presence in the United Kingdom. Caesars owns and operates the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas and calls the Nevada desert home.
Full Tilt could have an ace up its sleeve in the form of the Onyx Cup, a series of six land-based tournaments around the world with buy-ins ranging from $100,000 to $300,000. The first Onyx Cup event is set for May 11th and 12th in Las Vegas just before the start of the World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio and has a $100,000 buy-in.
However, the inaugural Onyx Cup event’s location has not yet been announced, meaning that a partnership with Station Casinos could bring the tournament to a casino like Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch, Palace Station, Boulder Station, Santa Fe Station, Texas Station, or Sunset Station. All told, Station Casinos has 18 gaming establishments in Las Vegas.
Three Onyx Cup events are slated for Las Vegas. After the stop on May 11th and 12th, another $100,000 buy-in live poker tournament will take place on July 7th and 8th, the first two starting days of the 2011 WSOP Main Event. Then, the Onyx Cup series will head to Asia and Europe before returning to Sin City in December for its $250,000 buy-in Grand Finale.
What is certain, however, is that the road to legalized and regulated internet gambling and/or online poker in the United States is a long one. Earlier this month, Congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA) and John Campbell (R-CA) introduced HR 1174, which is similar to Frank’s HR 2267 from the last Congress. HR 1174 would establish a framework for legalized internet gambling in the United States and must now receive time in the House Financial Services Committee.
The prospects of a bill making it through the Financial Services Committee, which is chaired by staunch internet gaming opponent Spencer Bachus (R-AL), seem to be slim. To that end, Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas told Poker News Daily, “John Campbell has had some conversations with the Chairman and the Chairman is willing to hold a hearing. It probably won’t be until later this summer.”
Pappas continued, “I don’t hold a lot of hope that this bill, as it’s currently drafted, will be something that the Committee will vote on, but we continue to believe that a poker-only approach could be the right approach. We also believe a different committee could vote on this.”
Rest assured that if Full Tilt Poker forges a relationship with Station Casinos, we’ll let you know about it right here on Poker News Daily.
