Resorts Casino Atlantic City Signs Igaming Deal with Sportech-NYX Gaming

Last week, the Resorts Casino announced it had struck a partnership deal with gaming software companies Sportech and NYX Gaming to offer online gambling in Atlantic City. The two European firms said they would invest around $2 million a piece in the venture and hoped to have their platform ready to launch by January 2015. Following announcement of the deal, Resorts Casino Hotel CEO Mark Giannantonio, said:
“We are also thrilled to announce our partnership with Sportech-NYX Gaming, LLC (SNG) to make casino games available on the ResortsCasino.com and affiliated websites. SNG’s extensive knowledge of the online gaming industry combined with Resorts’ longstanding history of first-class land-based gaming will allow us to bring New Jersey online gamers a fresh, unique and user-friendly experience.”
Interestingly, Resorts Casino Hotel already has an online poker agreement in place with PokeStars dating back two years, which was eventually put on hold after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) took exception to the company’s board being controlled by the Scheinberg family. A recent acquisition proposal by Amaya Gaming of PokerStars, however, envisions Mark Scheinberg divesting away from company, prompting the DGE to release a statement stating it felt “encouraged by [the] development and the expanded opportunities it might provide for New Jersey’s Internet gaming industry.”
The latest partnership deal between Resorts Casino and the Sportech-NYX Gaming (SNG) joint venture makes no mention of online poker, leading some analysts to conclude the Atlantic City casino may offer regulated internet casino games through its Sportech-NYX platform, and online poker through its PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker websites. That, of course, is dependent upon the DGE going a step further and actually absolving PokerStars of its ‘bad actor’ label, something seemingly more likely after The Garden State’s recent monthly igaming revenues have started to head South.
Furthermore, the state could hardly find a poker room better able to transform its nascent industry as pre-Black Friday PokerStars, together with Full Tilt Poker, controlled a massive 70% of the country’s grey online poker market.
For its part, Resorts Casino seems confident of a postive outcome, with property owner Morris Bailey, stating: “This is an exciting era of gaming in New Jersey, and we are confident it will be another positive stepping-stones in Resorts’ storied history.”