Fertitta Interactive Gearing Up For Online PokerCompany to Launch Free-Play Game on Facebook |
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Nevada online poker applicant Fertitta Interactive LLC will launch a free-play poker game this Friday on Facebook, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday. The company is controlled by the owners of Station Casinos Inc., a brick-and-mortar chain that targets the locals market in Las Vegas.
Ultimate Poker on Facebook will reportedly run under the company’s online gaming company, Ultimate Gaming. The branding fits in with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which is also under the same umbrella of ownership. All of this happening in-house was made possible by the acquisition of gaming software provider CyberArts in October 2011.
Station Casinos owns and runs properties such as Red Rock Casino, Sunset Station and Green Valley Ranch, which are all off The Strip.
While Fertitta Interactive will come out of the gate with free-play social media-based gaming, it’s also preparing itself for real-money wagering in Nevada. The Silver State is close to putting the final touches on authorizing web poker for its casino companies.
The Ultimate Poker venture isn’t the first of its kind for a Nevada gaming licensee. Caesars Entertainment Corp. has a casino application on Facebook, as does slot machine manufacturer International Game Technology and the Golden Nugget. South Point Casino hasn’t dabbled in the Harvard dorm creation, but does have a free-play stand-alone poker site.
In March 2011, offshore operator Full Tilt Poker entered into a partnership with Fertitta Interactive. However, the deal dissolved after the April 15 indictments known as Black Friday. Full Tilt Poker was later accused of being a “global Ponzi scheme.”
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