Exclusive: 888Poker partners with Treasure Island in Nevada

888 has signed a second online poker deal with Las Vegas casino Treasure Island and will use the Nevada company’s licence to launch its B2C poker brand in the state at the end of June or the beginning of July, eGaming Review can exclusively reveal.

Several sources close to the matter told eGR that talks between Treasure Island (pictured) and the UK listed operator began earlier last year with an initial agreement signed “six months ago”, according to one individual who wishes to remain anonymous.

Sources in the US explained that once a number of technicalities and regulatory matters are finalised ““ including a number of infrastructure issues involving the servers being used and the various licences these operate under ““ that poker liquidity would be shared between 888Poker and Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) poker brand WSOP.com with Treasure Island receiving a revenue share as part of the 888 agreement. 888 declined to comment.

The deal remains subject to licensing approval with both companies having their applications heard by the Nevada’s Gaming Control Board (GCB) tomorrow and Thursday. 888 chief executive Brian Mattingley and long-serving CFO Aviad Kobrine will both be present.

888 has been in line for the hearing since applying for a supplier licence last year, having entered into an agreement with CIE to provide the operator with poker software in the state. CIE has already received its operator licence and has been awaiting 888’s.

Treasure Island will also have its application to become an online poker operator in the Silver State heard at the GCB meeting. To date Nevada’s GCB and Gaming Commission have approved the application of every operator and supplier including MGM Interactive, Boyd Gaming, CIE, SHFL, Bally Technologies and IGT.

Treasure Island is owned by US real estate billionaire Phil Ruffin worth US$2.4bn according to US magazine Forbes in 2011. Ruffin acquired the casino from MGM-Mirage for more than $600m in 2009 with the 77 year-old estimating that it would cost $2.7bn to build from scratch.

888 executives were previously in talks with American business magnate Donald Trump and his company Trump Entertainment in March last year, however eGR understands these discussions ended some time ago with one source describing the deal as “dead”. It is unclear how this affects its other partnership with Trump and global investment firm Avenue Capital Group co-founded and run by US billionaire hedge fund manager Marc Lasry which was originally intended to be a vehicle to create a US regulated online poker business.

At the time 888 said it was in talks with a number of other unnamed casino groups in order to increase its B2B clients and launch its own online poker brands ahead of a regulated US market, however this is now thought to be limited to just its original agreement with Caesars Entertainment and Treasure Island.

In March last year an 888 spokesman said that, depending on the type of deal struck 888 was also looking to “find a route to market” for its own brand 888Poker. eGR understands 888 is now leaning firmly towards a B2C rather than its original B2B strategy as other US states begin to follow Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey’s lead in regulating and, in the near future, compacting with other states.

888’s current two US B2B deals include providing CIE’s World Series of Poker site (WSOP.com) with its poker software, platform and expertise with a second agreement struck in July last year with WMS Industries that recently also agreed to merge with US lottery company Scientific Games.

The original WMS deal was intended to see the solutions provider offer 888’s online poker to US land-based casinos with the product initially only available as a free-play solution, allowing casinos to launch real-money variants once regulation is passed, and licences secured.

eGR understands that no deals have as yet been agreed as part of this original agreement, however the agreement could yet prove to be lucrative should states look to compact and broaden their liquidity pools and other casinos come on board. This is an area Nevada is keen to capitalise on due to its first mover advantage and promises of tighter regulatory controls. Its inferior 2.7 million population compared to New Jersey’s 8.8 million, however means it will need to act as quickly as possible to ensure it is first in line when neighbouring states look to partner with others.

It also remains unclear as to the future of 888’s deal with Caesars after its group chief executive Gary Loveman said the company was likely to move away from 888’s technology and towards rival French supplier Barrière for its poker software in the US ahead of owning the platform in the next two years.

Speaking in a conference call following Caesars’ full-year financial results last week, Loveman said: “We’d anticipate that we might migrate off of the 888 platform and onto the Barrière platform in due time.”

eGR understands this is unlikely to happen ahead of the launch of Caesars’ real-money poker launch in Nevada, where it has already been awarded an online poker licence. Once the migration to Barrière is complete eGR understands Caesars will have access to its own proprietary platform.