PokerStars much-anticipated launch in New Jersey’s online gaming market has begun, starting with a five-day test period.
The state Division of Gaming Enforcement said the site was permitted to begin real-money play with a pool of pre-selected guests on March 16. If there are no hitches in the tests, the site will be open to all players physically located in New Jersey by March 21.
The test evaluates the company’s equipment and policies under actual betting conditions and monitoring by the DGE. The test is standard for sites operating in the state.
According to the Associated Press, PokerStars selected 500 previous customers to participate in the “soft play” testing period.
The company is partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. In New Jersey, all online gambling sites must partner with an Atlantic City casino.
The launch has been much anticipated and hopes are that it will give a major boost to the state’s online industry. That industry has already been gaining revenue steadily in recent months and was up 42 percent over 2015 in figures released for February.
Still, the launch marks the return of the world’s leading online poker brand to the U.S. after it was stopped from doing business in the country in 2011.
The site, pokerstarsnj.com, will be New Jersey’s 18th Internet gambling site and will offer poker and online table games and slot machine games.
According to the AP, PokerStars tried twice in 2013 to get licensed in New Jersey, but the state suspended the company for up to two years, citing legal problems involving some company executives, including an unresolved indictment against its founder.
Executives involved in PokerStars’ acceptance of bets in the United States after federal law banned illegal gambling through the Internet stepped down as part of the sale to Canadian Company Amaya Inc.
The PokerStars website paid a $547 million fine to the Department of Justice, but didn’t admit wrongdoing, according to the AP.
The launch comes at an interesting time for Amaya. The company has just announced a net loss of C$25.9m for 2015, down from net earnings of C$125.2m the previous year. However adjusted net earnings improved 18 percent year-on-year to C$372.2m.
The loss was due to the impact of a lower Canadian dollar and product rollout challenges, the company said. Amaya said that excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, total yearly revenue would have increased 15 percent, with real-money online revenue rising 15 percent.
“Throughout 2015 we successfully executed on our strategy of diversifying our operations while maintaining market dominance in poker,” said Amaya Chairman and CEO David Baazov in a press statement. “Despite significant foreign exchange and product rollout challenges, we achieved positive growth on a constant currency basis and, through investments and initiatives that will continue through 2016, have laid the foundation for becoming a leader across multiple gaming verticals.”
Meanwhile, Baazov said he still plans to make a bid to take the online gambling company private, though he could not put a timetable on the move.
“I’m in a position to move towards submitting a proposal to acquire the outstanding shares of Amaya, consistent with my previously announced intentions,” Baazov told reporters during a conference call on the company’s reporting fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2015.
Baazov said he was planning a bid on the company in February, but so far has not announced a figure.
