Ultimate Gaming Exits NJ Online Gambling Market

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Monday, September 22nd, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

New Jersey’s land-based casinos have been falling like tenpins in recent months with just seven of the state’s original twelve casinos expected to remain open by the end of 2014. It would now seem the slump in New Jersey’s casino industry has now resulted in its first online casualty, too, after gambling site Ultimate Gaming announced last Friday it would cease operations on September 21st, ahead of its land-based partner The Trump Taj Mahal’s closure in November. Following announcement of the news, Tom Breitling, Chairman of Ultimate Gaming, highlighted the fact Trump Entertainment’s bankruptcy filing was instrumental in his company’s decision, and added:

“We are working closely with the Division of Gaming Enforcement to ensure a smooth transition for our online gaming customers as we wind down our New Jersey operations.”

Ultimate Poker funds should be secure

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) overseas the state’s regulated online gambling market, and with its strict set of operating regulations there is no reason to suspect player funds are anything but completely safe. Anyone seeking information about their account are now being directed by Ultimate Gaming to www.ucasino.com or www.ultimatepoker.com, but in the meantime the company has released a set of guidelines to its customers as follows:

“Please go to your account and withdraw any cash balances you may have by following the normal withdrawal procedures. You will be able to access your account in the normal manner until September 28, 2014. If you have not withdrawn your balance by September 28, 2014 we will begin refunding balances in your account to your registered address. Unexpired “U-dollars” and tournament tickets will be refunded. After midnight on October 5, 2014 player accounts will no longer be accessible on-line.”

Disadvantaged casino partnership deal

Online gambling operations must first have an agreement in place with a NJ land-based casino before it can offer its products in the Garden State. Whereas Bwin.party and 888 has enjoyed the support of the Borgata and Caesars, respectively, Ultimate teamed up with the soon to close Trump Taj Mahal which has consistently been one of the poorest performing of New Jersey’ casinos.

Compounding Ultimate Gaming’s problems further has been the fact Donald Trump would not allow the site to use his brand name to promote its online produce, thus leaving it at a serious disadvantage in an already saturated market.

Reasons for Ultimate’s New Jersey exit?

As a result, Ultimate Poker has been the worst performing of all the state’s six online gaming operations, and has generated just $4.9 million in revenues this year, compared to market leader, the Borgata/PartyPoker partnership, which has collected $30 million so far in 2014.

While the brand’s online casino, UCasino, ranked last of all the state’s sites, it still managed to rake in more than half a million dollars each month, and $4,469,868 in total overall. Its online poker product, however, never quite caught on and revenues have fallen over the past five months from a peak of $100,000 in March to a mere $23,000 in August.

Ultimate Gaming owed $1.5 million

If that wasn’t bad enough, Trump Entertainment Resorts, which owns the Trump Plaza and the Taj Mahal, has also struggled to pay its bills and has now filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with up to $500 million in outstanding liabilities. In fact, not only has the company failed to make its most recent quarterly tax payment, and cannot even pay its lenders interest on money owing, but it apparently also owes a further $1.5 million to Ultimate Gaming. Commenting on the untenable situation, Marc Falcone, Ultimate’s senior vice president, said:

“We wish things would have turned out differently for us. Unfortunately, as they say in poker, we were not dealt a good hand. We are owed about $1.5 million from Trump Entertainment. We in effect haven’t been paid for more than two months. Money that the site generated and that we are owed, we were never given.”

Ultimate Poker Nevada unaffected

While Ultimate Gaming struggled and eventually failed to gain any traction in New Jersey’s online gambling market, the closure of Ultimate NJ will in no way affect Ultimate Poker in Nevada. Unlike New Jersey’s crowded iGaming market, Nevada has just two main operators, WSOP.com and Ultimate Poker, with the Silver state’s third site, Real Gaming, still yet to make any real impact on the market.

Back in April, 2013, Ultimate Poker was the first online poker room to launch in the country’s regulated iPoker market, but after enjoying around 220 cash game players over a seven-day period, WSOP.com’s launch 6 months later has seen Ultimate’s poker traffic slip to just 60 players, according to PokerScout, while WSOP is currently showing 95 players.