Caesars pursuing intrastate egaming opportunities
Operator hopes to follow Nevada license application with moves into other states as they regulate.
Caesars Entertainment will explore intrastate egaming opportunities across the United States as and when they arise, chief executive Gary Loveman has revealed.
The operator is one of 15 applicants to apply for a Nevada licence after the Silver State began to take applications in December last year, and Loveman said in a statement: “[We] will pursue similar licenses in other states as opportunities arise.”
He had previously revealed that Caesars was capable of launching an online poker site within 12-14 months of federal regulation passing, but his latest statement indicates that Caesars is prepared for the possibility of American regulation taking the form of state-by-state legislation to begin with.
Loveman was speaking at Caesars’ fourth quarter results presentation, where the company announced widening losses from US$196.7m to $220.6m, a 12.2% year-on-year increase.
Net revenues for the group rose 2.4% to $2.17bn for the three months ended 31 December, while the period also saw Caesars acquire the remaining 49% of social games developer Playtika after securing a controlling 51% stake in the Israeli company last May.
Caesars’ online division, Caesars Interactive Entertainment, has extended poker deals with Dragonfish and Barrière in the early part of 2012, both with the US market in mind. These partnerships already cover the United Kingdom and France real-money markets respectively, while Caesars also has an Italian-facing deal in place with Microgame.
The Dragonfish partnership became the first deal between a US operator and a European egaming company to receive approval from Nevada authorities when it was approved by the state’s Gaming Control Board and Gaming Commission last year.
In November the company, which owns the World Series of Poker brand, revealed that it was set to revive plans for an IPO this year with the intention of raising $50m through the sale of shares.