The parent company of Poker Stars, the world’s biggest poker site, has announced plans to purchase a brick and mortar casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Isle of Man based Rational Group US Holdings, the owners of both Poker Stars and, as of recently, Full Tilt Poker, is requesting that New Jersey casino regulators give it the go ahead to purchase the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel for an amount of money that has not as of yet been disclosed. If this deal is approved, it would be the first time an online gambling purveyor has taken ownership of a land-based casino in Atlantic City. The purchase agreement between Poker Stars owners and Resorts International Holding, an affiliate of L.A. based Colony Capital LLC, a hedge fund that currently owns the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel reached an agreement on December 21st, 2012.
This news was first reported by The Press of Atlantic City, based on release of a statement that included such stats as the formation through this endeavor of 2,000 new jobs. The statement also noted that during the transition the casino will continue operating under its present management.
The Atlantic Club is ranked 10th of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos according to their comparative revenue from gambling.This comes at a time when lawmakers in the state have recently authorized Internet gambling, although Republican Governor Chris Christie has yet to act on it.
Poker Stars is cited as the largest poker site in the world, with 50 million members registered and since its inception in December 2001 has dealt more than 85 billion hands.