The future looks bleak for Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino after they laid off 1,000 workers and stated that they might close on September 16th. Trump Entertainment Resorts tried to sell the Atlantic City-based Plaza for $20 million in April, 2013, only to have the deal blocked by the mortgage holder, billionaire Carl Icahn, who felt $20 million was too low. Now, Trump Plaza is likely to close for good and lose their online gaming license in the process.
The latter thought brings a good question to mind: what now becomes of Betfair NJ? The London-based gaming company are partners with Trump Plaza and run online poker and casino sites in New Jersey. However, this operation is now in great jeopardy, which we’ll explain along with if Betfair have any viable options.
Betfair can’t operate in New Jersey Alone
As New Jersey gaming regulation stands, only the state’s casinos and their partners can run an online poker site and/or casino. If Trump Plaza does indeed close, as looks to be the case, their Internet Gaming Permit will vanish. So this leaves Betfair looking at two options: leave New Jersey or try to find another partner.
Will Betfair stay?
This is a company that’s dumped millions into the New Jersey online gaming market. And like many other offshore operators, Betfair are hoping to stick around to see the fruits of interstate gaming. Additionally, they’ve developed a horseracing betting site called NJBets. Given their significant investments so far, Betfair are very unlikely to just pick up and leave the Garden State.
Betfair’s Search for a Partner
It’s not going to be easy for Betfair to simply jump to another casino partner. For starters, the number of casinos is dwindling, with the Atlantic Club having closed, Showboat closing at the end of August, Revel shutting down if they can’t find a buyer by August 18th, and Trump Plaza announcing a potential closure. This could leave just eight casinos in Atlantic City, many of which have partners already.
Besides limited options, Betfair’s performance hasn’t been the greatest so far because their NJ operation has only pulled in $3.6 million – ranking them fifth out of sixth in 2014 online gaming revenue. Their poker site has been a massive failure, generating less than $100 in rake since launching. So selling a potential partner on their past success will be difficult for Betfair.
The likely scenario is that this company will end up investing more money to link up with a tentative partner. And while this might cause even more financial pain to Betfair, doing so could pay off years down the road.