JusSumguy
Chipmonger
Silver Level
Fertitta Interactive is majority owned by Station casinos. As you may know, the Station Casinos are owned by the Fertitta brothers, the same duo that owns the UFC. In the cab on the way to meet with Ultimate Poker I assumed I was going to Fertitta's headquarters. I expected to be surrounded by UFC paraphernalia while meeting with the poker team in a tucked-away corner of the office. After all, there is currently no real market for them in the U.S., so I wasn't expecting much.
I couldn't have been more mistaken. Ultimate Poker already has its own office (pictured below) - a 20,000 square foot warehouse just off the Strip behind CityCenter.
These salaried employees are not random casino guys with no online experience – many of them have worked in some capacity with pokerstars over the years. I met with Joe Versaci, whom Adam Small and I had met with various times when he was the head of North American marketing for PokerStars. Joe is joined at Ultimate Poker by PokerStars vet Scott Yeates, one of the minds behind the beloved PokerStars VIP Program. Then there's Terrence TChan Chan, who started his career by building PokerStars' support team before going on to become a professional poker player and MMA fighter. These guys definitely know what they are doing.
For software, Fertitta Interactive purchased CyberArts, a gaming software company that has been in the business since 1995. The purchase of CyberArts positions the Ultimate Gaming brand to compete in various gaming markets across several platforms worldwide, but the focus will be on regulated online poker in the United States. CyberArts’ CEO Chris Derossi stayed on to lead Ultimate Poker's software team.
I haven't spoken much with the other companies that have received Nevada licenses, but I hope to find others making a similar investment. It’s going to be a long road, but the Fertitta brothers are ready for that. They’ve already persevered through a similar state-by-state regulation battle with UFC. PocketFives will keep you updated on all the state by state regulation news as it breaks. For now, we can all take some comfort in the fact that a strong, reputable group like Fertitta is making a major investment in regulated US online poker.
Copyright: pocketfives.com
By: Cal Spears
Published on Mar 18th, 2013
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