The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that Fertitta Interactive LLC will launch its real-money and social gaming company, Ultimate Gaming with the launch of UltimatePoker.com on Friday.
Of no surprise, Ultimate Gaming is the UFC’s official online gaming sponsor.
Via Las Vegas Review Journal:
Fertitta Interactive is a division of Fertitta Entertainment LLC, which is also the parent company of Station Casinos LLC and the UFC. The company will control all of the content of its products, with games developed by CyberArts.
CyberArts was purchased by Fertitta Interactive LLC in October.
Fertitta Interactive hopes to capture a share of a multibillion dollar market. According to H2 Gaming, a London-based research firm, the U.S. online poker market will exceed $4.3 billion, assuming federal legislation is passed and every relevant state opts in.
Ultimate Poker.com was displayed on the ring mats and corner bumpers at UFC on FX 4 in conjunction with its release on Facebook on Friday. It will launch real money poker in Nevada as soon as state gaming regulators approve pending manufacturer, service provider and operator licenses which should happen by the end of the year according to Tom Breitling, chairman of Fertitta Interactive.
Payout Perspective:
As most recall, this is reminiscent of the UFC’s last go round with online poker. The strategy of leveraging the male-dominated UFC demo with online poker, another male-centric demo, should bring in many octagon fans to the poker site. Of course, a lot of this is dependent on legislation allowing for real money poker sites. But, for the Fertittas to position itself with the free version on Facebook to get poker fans hooked and ready to go live with a money site when (or if) legislation is passed, is a smart move.
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