Station Casinos Group Launches Free Internet Poker Site

Mixed reactions to the announcement of Ultimate Poker brand The Tuesday announcement that Station Casinos, the US land gambling group, plans to release an internet poker site via Facebook social network attracted a lot of media attention especially due to the choice of Ultimate Poker as a brand in light of its earlier ill-fated industry publicity. According to the statements, the owner's connection with the Ultimate Fighting Championship enterprise led to selecting the Ultimate Poker for the new venture. It is expected that the owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta will be using the UFC activities to support the online poker site. UFC is available to millions of users due to its worldwide coverage and mainly targets male population which is very similar to the online poker audience, claims the company spokesmen. The Fertitta Interactive chairman, Tom Breitling, said that the group would use its previously acquired software from the Cyberarts subsidiary in order to power the new product under the auspices of Ultimate Gaming.The new site will also offer online bingo. As per his statement, launching of Ultimate Poker is just the first step for the company in its expansion from the social games, including the Facebook ones, towards accepting cash bets in the states where online gambling will be legalized and where the company already applied for licenses. 'We view this as a global opportunity. When looking at online gaming, it's going to be a domino effect with Nevada leading the way,' said Breitling adding that Fertitta Interactive has already started pursuing licensing opportunities in Nevada. Tobin Prior,the Ultimate Gaming chief executive, said to the press conference that the new poker website will rely on UFC's experience in developing social networks which has so far acquired online social audience of 8 million users on Facebook and 2.5 million on Twitter. He added that the new games will be designed so as to cross online platforms, to be followed by a mobile application later this year. 'We're also going to utilise Station Casinos' customer relationship model, which is very important in any online enterprise,' Prior stated. The Ultimate Poker product will provide a more authentic ambience and experience besting its competitors, according to Chris Derossi, who founded CyberArts and oversaw development of the Macintosh 7.01 operating system for Apple. 'We are trying to provide an authentic experience for people who care about the game. As we move from the social side of gaming to a real money space, we will have serious players,' Derossi also said.