The owner in the world’s largest on line poker web site wants to add a brick-and-mortar casino to its portfolio.

Rational Group US Holdings, the parent company of PokerStars and Complete Tilt Poker, is asking New Jersey casino regulators for permission to purchase the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel for an undisclosed amount. If approved, the deal would mark the first acquire of an Atlantic City casino by an Internet gambling organization.

The organization, based in Isle of Man, promises to invest in the Atlantic City casino to help the struggling seaside gambling resort.

“Rational US is usually a prepared and enthusiastic prospective purchaser, and it intends to improve the economic viability on the house, and consequently the offerings out there in Atlantic City,” the firm wrote in its application to New Jersey casino regulators. “The buy will strengthen the general economic and competitive conditions of Atlantic City and also the state of New Jersey, as the current owner in the company has, to get a considerable period of time, been advertising the house for sale.”
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The company’s application to New Jersey regulators was very first reported by The Press of Atlantic City. A acquire agreement was reached Dec. 21.

In a joint statement, Michael Frawley, the casino’s chief operating officer, and Eric Hollreiser, a spokesman for Rational, confirmed the proposed sale.

“The acquisition on the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel will secure up to two,000 jobs and sustain the economic advantages the casino brings to New Jersey,” their statement read. “During this interim period, the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel will operate as normal beneath current management, that will be retained following completion of your acquisition.”

Rational would get the casino from Resorts International Holdings, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based hedge fund Colony Capital LLC. Colony has owned the casino considering that 2005 since it has struggled badly in Atlantic City’s cutthroat market, which is suffering from elevated competitors from casinos in neighboring states.

The Atlantic Club ranks 10th out of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos in terms of gambling revenue. It is take from gamblers declined by 11 percent last year, to $127.two million. It posted a $13.6 million gross operating loss by means of the first nine months of last year.

The proposed deal are going to be scrutinized closely. State lawmakers have passed a bill that would authorize Internet gambling, but Republican Gov. Chris Christie hasn’t acted on it.

Final year, PokerStars paid $547 million to settle revenue laundering charges from a U.S. government crackdown on illegal Net gambling. It admitted no wrongdoing and is allowed to operate in states exactly where on line gambling is legal.

Rational is looking for from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement interim casino authorization, that is preliminary approval to move forward with the obtain. It would then require approval from the New Jersey Casino Manage Commission to complete the buy.

On its site, Rational describes PokerStars because the world’s largest online poker site, with extra than 50 million registered members. Because December 2001, the company says, extra than 85 billion hands have been played on its website.