This story is sponsored by 888 Poker
888 has followed up last week’s real-money launch of WSOP.com in Nevada by announcing a US-wide licensing deal with Caesars’ bitter rival Wynn Resorts.
The deal between the All American Poker Network (AAPN) and Wynn’s Interactive division will include the launch of fully managed casino and poker services under its brands in Nevada, New Jersey and other states as regulation allows.
Brian Mattingley, the boss of 888 which operates the AAPN under a joint venture with US hedge fund Avenue Capital Group, said today: “This is exactly the type of partnership we’ve envisioned when we formed AAPN with our partners Avenue Capital.”
Wynn has applied for an online licence in New Jersey, which has targeted a go-live date of November for Atlantic City’s casinos to be up and running online, despite not currently operating a bricks ‘n’ mortar casino there. It has been linked with an acquisition of the struggling Atlantic Club property, one of two yet to declare their preferred software partners, the other being the Revel.
The agreement could potentially see rivals Caesars and Wynn pooling poker liquidity with 888, although Caesars is targeting a move off 888’s software onto its own proprietary platform it has been developing in conjunction with French B2B partner Barrière, which powers its WSOP.fr website.
Wynn originally engaged PokerStars to be its US software provider back in March 2011, but pulled out a month later following the Black Friday indictments unsealed against several of its principals, including Stars’ owner Isai Scheinberg.
888 is to also launch own-branded casino and poker in New Jersey, having secured an agreement with Caesars to operate off one of the online licences allocated to each of its four land-based properties in Atlantic City. The London-listed operator and supplier was also part of a consortium selected in May to provide igaming products to the Delaware Lottery alongside Sci Games and William Interactive, setting up 888 to be the first online company active in all three of the US states to legalise igaming to date.
Analyst James Hollins of Investec described the deal as a “significant coup” for 888.
Article written by Katy Stirland
