Ultimate Gaming And El Cortez Casino Strike Online Poker Deal

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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

Ultimate Poker (UP) has continued its expansion in Nevada’s online poker market by agreeing a partnership deal with Las Vegas casino El Cortez. Once players create an online account at UltimatePoker.com, they are now able to deposit and cash out via the downtown casino’s cage, and commenting on the development, Alexandra Epstein, executive vice president of the El Cortez, said:

“We’re excited to join in this new venture and bring even more gaming options to guests of the property. By combining the online accessibility of Ultimate Poker with the classic Vegas feel of the El Cortez we’re giving new and existing players a different way to experience the game of poker.”

The deal is similar to the one Ultimate Gaming (parent company of Ultimate Poker) has with more than twenty other casinos throughout the state of Nevada, including Station Casinos and Peppermill Resorts.

El Cortez “Where locals come to play”

Built in 1941, El Cortez was downtown Las Vegas’ first major resort and has been in continuous operation from its Fremont Street location ever since. Over the years, the Spanish Colonial Revival styled venue has appealed to Las Vegas residents tired of Nevada’s larger tourist centered casinos, and in 2013 it was then placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The official marketing slogan of the Kenny Epstein owned property is “Where locals come to play”.

Ultimate Poker background

Ultimate Poker holds a prominent place in USA’s online poker history as it was the first site to launch regulated poker stateside back in April 2013. At the time of its launch, Ultimate Poker Chairman Tom Breitling, commented:

“We are proud to be the first company to deliver legal and secure real-money online gaming to poker players. We have worked closely with state gaming regulators to demonstrate our unique and compelling poker platform that, above all, players know they can trust. Ultimate Poker is dedicated to being the players’ choice for online poker.”

After a positive start in which it enjoyed an average of 220 cash game players over a seven-day period, WSOP.com subsequently joined the action in September, followed by a soft launch by South Point’s Real Gaming earlier this year. Since then, Ultimate Poker has seen its player traffic drop to a mere 55 cash game players, according to PokerScout, whilst WSOP.com buoyed by its World Series Of Poker linked product is now Nevada’s online poker market leader with 140 players.

The Nevada online poker deal

The latest online poker marketing deal extends the UltimatePoker.com website to a network of casinos spread out across the Silver State, with its biggest outlet being Station Casinos, which owns 17 casinos in Nevada, as well as the Ultimate Poker brand itself. In addition, UltimatePoker.com is available in a number of other casinos, including Reno’s Peppermill Hotel Casino, four casinos in the northern part of Necada, and now El Cortez.

Ultimate Poker’s weak presence in New Jersey

In November 2013, Ultimate Poker partnered with NJ brick-and-mortar casino Trump Taj Mahal to launch its Ultimate Poker website in New Jersey. The site is now one of a number of collaborations offered in the state, which also includes Borgata/bwin.party, Tropicana/Virgin, Caesars/888, the Golden Nugget/Bally Tech, and Trump Plaza/Betfair.

However, in seven months of regulated NJ igaming three operations have dominated the market, namely Borgata/bwin.party with 36.5% of online gambling revenues, followed by Caesar’s Interactive (27.3%), and The Tropicana (18.2%). Trump Taj Mahal/Ultimate Gaming, on the other hand, is near the bottom of the state’s igaming market, and in May generated the least amount of revenues at $497,728, down from $609,450 the previous month.

Furthermore, Ultimate Gaming New Jersey’s revenue has almost exclusively been derived from casino games, as according to PokerScout the website is showing no cash game players over a seven day average, and a peak of just 29 cash game players.

Factors holding back Ultimate Poker

While in Nevada’s regulated online poker market Ultimate Poker has just WSOP.com as competition, New Jersey’s saturated igaming market presents the operation with greater challenges. Furthermore, Ultimate Poker has been plagued with a number of technical issues, including unattractive software and a protracted payment processing procedure. As Ultimate Poker Chairman Tom Breitling, explains:

“People who’d played online poker in the past never had to go through this new, detailed process filled with extra clicks. No company ever before had asked for a Social Security Number or for geolocation information. It was like asking people to take their shoes off and step through a metal detector at the airport after years of walking straight to the gate. This [government created] friction impacts the user experience and affects revenues.”