PokerStars moving in the land-based casino industry
PokerStars is going in the land-based casino industry with a major investment in London’s Hippodrome Casino. Based on a recent report in the Sunday Times, the online poker giant’s stake raises Hippodrome’s value to approximately £100 million.
Precise information on the deal haven’t been made public yet, but the action wasn’t quite unexpected.
Speculation about a PokerStars’ branded, land-based casino have swirled because the company distributed survey asking about players’ off-line gaming habits months ago. Back then, company officials said the survey wasn’t associated with any expansion plans.
They did say that they were, “always open to new business opportunities that could strengthen our offering to players.”
PokerStars’ step towards traditional gaming is among a number of massive ones they’ve made in recently.
The company’s greatest deal, obviously, was their purchase of the struggling Full Tilt Poker brand, that ought to be relaunched in November. The FTP acquisition didn’t come in a low cost. PokerStars will be paying the US government around half a billion dollars within the next 3 years to resolve FTP player accounts and business penalties.
