PokerStars Coming Soon To Atlantic City?

Parent company of PokerStars, the Rational Group, has moved a step closer to owning The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City after poker news outlet pokerfuse confirmed the deal is now dependent on being granted “an Interim Casino Authorization by the relevant New Jersey authorities.”
The New Jersey gambling market has been in steady decline since 2006 when casino revenues peaked at $5.2 billion. Last year, revenues had fallen further to just $3.05 billion, despite hopes that a new $2.4 billion casino development called Revel would lift Atlantic City from the doldrums.
Perhaps the world’s biggest online poker room PokerStars will have better success in attracting more visitors to the east coast gambling resort. The company will also be getting the casino at a knock-down price of around $50 million. Incredibly, the property was built in 1980 for $140 million, sold in 1987 for $440, before the poorly-performing casino was sold once again in 2000 for $140 million.
By March, 2011, the business was up for sale once more but failed to find a buyer. It is believed PokerStars’ interest in the property is related to a bill currently under debate in New Jersey which could potentially see casino owners granted the right to operate legalized online gaming sites. A key component to PokerStars going ahead with the deal is also dependent on a provision to the bill which would not exclude PokerStars obtaining an online gaming license because of its prior history of accepting wagers in the US contrary to the 2006 UIGEA.
PokerStars’ seems to be increasingly moving towards the live casinos market in recent times and last year announced an investment in a poker room at London’s  Hippodrome casino, followed two month’s later with a similar move at the Casino Gran Madrid in Spain.