After nearly two years of waiting, PokerStars has finally been given the green light from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to begin operating in the Garden State. The DGE approved Amaya Gaming’s application, meaning both PokerStars and Full Tilt can now get back into the United States online poker market for the first time since Black Friday, nearly four and a half years ago.
In a press release, Chairman and CEO of Amaya Gaming David Baazov said:
We are very pleased to add New Jersey to the long list of regulated markets that have found PokerStars and Full Tilt suitable to offer real-money online gaming. I want to thank the DGE for their thorough and fair review of our business. We look forward to bringing our popular brands, innovative technology, marketing prowess and world-class security and game integrity to the growing New Jersey online gaming market. We anticipate providing additional details of our launch plans in the near future.
PokerStars had been trying to get into the New Jersey market since around the beginning 2013, originally trying to purchase the failing Atlantic Club casino. It looked like it was going to happen, but in May 2013, the deal fell through. When online gambling became legal in the state in late 2013, PokerStars wanted to get in on the act, but with its previous legal problems with the U.S. government, things didn’t look extremely promising.
That changed in June 2014 when Amaya bought the Rational Group, parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. With the old ownership gone, it looked like any questions surrounding Stars and Full Tilt were eliminated and an online gaming license was inevitable. And though the DGE seemed to respond positively, for whatever reason Amaya’s license remained perpetually up in the air. Nobody knew why, exactly, though State Senator Raymond Lesniak once blamed Governor Chris Christie for delaying Amaya’s application as a way to please billionaire GOP donor, Sheldon Adelson.
But now, finally, Amaya has been granted the elusive license and PokerStars and Full Tilt will be able to open up shop in New Jersey. Amaya will offer online gambling in with its partner, Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel.
No date has been given as to when PokerStars and/or Full Tilt will launch a site in New Jersey. Expect them to offer both online poker and casino games.
Though the current players in New Jersey – Party Borgata and 888/WSOP – are established names, the entrance of Amaya and specifically PokerStars is expected to greatly increase both the visibility and perception of online poker in the state. The hope is that the respected PokerStars name will actually expand the market, providing more liquidity for all poker rooms.
