Frustrated over his battles with New Jersey gaming regulators, Steve Wynn sold the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in 1987 and vowed never to operate in Atlantic City again. But lately, it looks like he’s breaking this vow and trying to return to the city, only this time through the internet.
Along with partners AAPN (888) and Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Wynn Interactive have asked New Jersey gaming authorities to grant them a transactional waiver, which would enable them to enter the state’s legal online poker market.
As you may already know, one of the requirements to enter New Jersey’s internet poker market involves either having a land-based casino in the state, or being a partner of one of the casinos. Wynn Interactive doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar stake in the Garden State. However, the company did make a deal with Caesars that will allow them to host their online poker servers at one of Caesars’ Atlantic City casinos.
What further cements the partnership between Wynn and Caesars is that 888 have deals with both companies. So it seems obvious that if Wynn does receive a transactional waiver, their site would be on 888′s All American Poker Network. At this time, the only poker room on the network is 888/Caesars’ site.
Assuming Wynn Interactive is approved, their site could offer some major help to the All American Poker Network. In the first official revenue numbers released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which covers part of November and all of December, 888/Caesars checked in at second with $2.38 million in earnings. However, they trailed PartyPoker/Borgata by a fairly large margin since this site pulled in $3.75 million over the same span. If the All American Network are to cover this gap, they’ll likely need some help from an extra site or two.