Online gaming firm 888 Holdings, operator of 888poker.com, released its Interim Management Statement Tuesday, presenting positive financial results for the second quarter of 2013 and revealing some information about its plans for the New Jersey market.
As to the company’s financial results, 888 Holdings reported overall revenue of $97 million for the quarter, a five percent increase from the same period a year ago. Almost half of that, $47 million, came from the business-to-consumer casino division, a 14 percent increase from last year. Poker brought in $22 million, 12 percent more than the second quarter of 2012.
On the New Jersey front, the company said that Caesars Interactive Entertainment has agreed to let 888 open its own branded online poker room and casino in the Garden State. The agreement was made through the All American Poker Network, a new U.S.-based online poker network formed in March through a joint venture with Avenue Capital Group.
In New Jersey, only the twelve existing brick-and-mortar casinos can technically be licensed to operate intrastate online poker rooms and casinos, but other online gaming firms, such as 888, are able to get in the game by partnering with those casinos. In what looks to be the most sizable partnership, 888 and Caesars have teamed up to offer internet gaming in New Jersey. Caesars owns four casinos in Atlantic City: Bally’s, Showboat, Caesars, and Harrah’s.
The two companies have also joined forces in Nevada, where they are getting set to launch a World Series of Poker-branded online poker room, WSOP.com. It was thought that they may do something similar in New Jersey, though such plans may have been difficult without an interstate compact between the two states. It is not known at this time if any separate online poker rooms or casinos will launch in New Jersey with Caesars branding, though it may not make much sense for Caesars to compete against itself.
All eight of the other casinos in Atlantic City have partnered with online gaming firms, though just six of those partnerships have been made public. Those pairings are as follows:
• Trump Taj Mahal – Ultimate Poker
• Trump Plaza – Betfair
• Tropicana – Gamesys
• Borgata (Boyd Gaming) – bwin.party
• Golden Nugget – Bally Technologies
• Resorts Casino Club – PokerStars
Only the Revel Casino Hotel and the Atlantic Club Casino have not made their deals known.
A week ago, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) confirmed that 37 applications for internet gambling licenses have been received and an initial review has been completed. It will not release the names of the applicants to the public until it officially publishes them on the DGE website.
