El Cortez Casino And Ultimate Gaming Partner Up In Las Vegas

Nevada igaming site Ultimate Poker has just announced a partnership deal with El Cortez that will enable customers to access the UltimatePoker.com website via the brick-and-mortar casino in downtown Las Vegas. Commenting on the latest development, El Cortez executive VP, Alexandra Epstein, said:
“We’re excited to join in this new venture and bring even more gaming options to guests of the property. By combining the online accessibility of Ultimate Poker with the classic Vegas feel of the El Cortez we’re giving new and existing players a different way to experience the game of poker.”
El Cortez now joins a number of other gambling venues across the Silver State where players can access the UltimatePoker.com website, and make deposits or cash out at the casinos’ cage. At least 17 Station Casino properties are included in the network, with the gaming and casino management company also the owner of Ultimate Gaming (parent company of Ultimate Poker). Other casinos also linked to UltimatePoker.com include Reno’s Peppermill Hotel Casino, as well as four casinos in northern Nevada.
Located on Fremont Street, El Cortez became downtown Las Vegas’ first major casino when it was built in 1941, and only last year the Spanish Colonial Revival styled property was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Ultimate Poker, too, holds a unique place in US history, having been the first site to launch regulated online poker back in April 2013.
Ultimate poker subsequently got off to a positive start, boasting around 220 cash game players over a seven-day period, until WSOP.com entered the online poker market in September. Since then, UltimatePoker.com has seen its traffic plummet to just 55 cash game players, according to PokerScout, while WSOP.com has become the state’s market leader with a seven-day average of 140 players.
Ultimate poker also has a presence in the New Jersey igaming market, where it is partnered with land based casino Trump Taj Mahal. Unlike Nevada with just two main operators, however, New Jersey is a tougher, more saturated market currently dominated by Borgata/bwin.party with a 36% share of igaming revenues, Caesar’s Interactive with 27%, and The Tropicana with 18%. Alternatively, Trump Taj Mahal/Ultimate Gaming has been the less successful of all NJ’s igaming operations so far, and in May generated just $497,728 in revenues, down from the $609,450 collected in April.