On Thursday, Boyd Gaming was granted an interactive gaming license from the Nevada Gaming Commission as an operator of interactive gaming systems in Nevada. The license will allow Boyd to offer bwin.party’s poker platform to Nevada residents once the online gaming giant receives its own license as a service provider in the Silver State.
Boyd, which owns numerous casinos in Las Vegas, as well as the Borgata in Atlantic City, partnered with bwin.party and MGM Resorts International Gaming last October in anticipation of legalized gambling. As part of the joint venture, bwin.party will own 65 percent of the company for providing and maintaining the software for both gaming companies. MGM will hold 25 percent ownership and Boyd will own 10 percent.
MGM and bwin.party have already submitted license application but have yet to meet with gaming regulators.
The partnership will allow Boyd Gaming to offer the popular PartyPoker software to customers for the first time since the brand exited the market in 2006. Bwin.party CEO Jim Ryan told PokerNews earlier this year that PatryPoker and the World Poker Tour, also owned by bwin.party, are going to attract a significant market share in the U.S., but it won’t be the 50 percent share PartyPoker once had.
"It’s going to be a very new competitive set, but I think we can all be fairly confident that, given the brand strength that we’ve had, combined with our willingness to go in and spend aggressively in marketing, we’re going to have a very meaningful liquidity pool," Ryan told PokerNews.
The Nevada Gaming Commission will also be meeting with Fertitta Interactive and the Golden Nugget for license approval on Thursday. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for the latest.
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