After closing down its operations in the state of New Jersey just a couple of months ago, the parent company of Nevada’s Ultimate Poker, Ultimate Gaming, has decided to close its operations in Nevada effective immediately.
“As has been the case in other jurisdictions, online poker revenues in Nevada have fallen far short of original projections,” Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling stated in a news release from the company. “Moreover, the state-by-state approach to online gaming has created an extremely cost-prohibitive and challenging operating environment. These factors have combined to make the path to profitability very difficult and uncertain. Consequently, we have decided to cease operations.”
While closing the doors on Ultimate Gaming, Breitling noted that the company is working with Nevada regulators to ensure that all regulations are followed and customers are made whole with their bankrolls. Players are encouraged to ask any questions they may have by going to ultimatepoker.com and clicking the “Support” option tab.
The decision for Ultimate Gaming to shut down its operations in Nevada comes after the worst revenue month for the online poker industry in the state. In September, the three online sites in the Nevada Market – Caesars Interactive’s WSOP.com, South Point’s Real Gaming and the Station Casinos-owned Ultimate Gaming – only drew in $693,000 in revenues. Even at their apex during this summer (not coincidentally during the 2014 World Series of Poker), the three rooms could only draw in slightly more than $1 million.
Ultimate Gaming shut their operations down in New Jersey in similar circumstances but was aided by the closure of their partner, the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, during the summer months. Faced with their other partner in the Garden State’s online gaming industry, the Trump Taj Mahal, potentially closing in December, Ultimate cut their partnership short in September and terminated their contracts.
The closure of Ultimate Gaming’s Nevada operations is a bit of a surprise but there have been ominous signs prior to today. After signing a solid list of poker professionals to promote the site, several pros (including William Reynolds, Jeremy Ausmus, Phil Collins and Brent Hanks) were released in August. Those player departures left only Antonio Esfandiari, Dan O’Brien and Danielle Anderson on the roster and, along with internal personnel changes in the company, might have been a signal that things were not going well overall for the company.
There could have been another reason for the closure of Ultimate Gaming: saturation. The three operations in Nevada demonstrate the problems with the Nevada industry in that it is a very small market to begin with. With a population of only 2.8 million people, the three rooms could only bring together an average of around 175 players per week, according to PokerScout.com’s cash game rankings. This lack of market – and the factor that there wasn’t the ability to add to said market through interstate compacting or, saving that, federal legislation to allow for online poker – is a major issue in an industry that is dependent on having a sizeable pool of players to build its success.
While it may be closing, Ultimate Gaming will always have the distinction of being at the forefront of the regulated U. S. online gaming industry. In April 2013, Ultimate Poker opened its doors to become the first regulated gaming site in the United States. A few months later, Ultimate was followed by WSOP.com (and eventually Real Gaming), who would vie with them for the Nevada online poker playing community. The Caesars/WSOP tandem and Ultimate Gaming (through their partnership with the Trump hotels) were also in on the ground floor of the New Jersey online gaming scene.
The closure of Ultimate Gaming in Nevada now leaves only the two aforementioned sites (WSOP.com and Real Gaming) as the sole survivors in the Nevada online poker industry. It is thought that 888Poker will join the Nevada industry in the first quarter of 2015, but there has been very little noise of late from any other actors on the stage.