With Delaware becoming the second state to legalize online poker in the US and the first state to pass legislation allowing across-the-board casino gaming online, the US online poker scene is heating up. And as more states take advantage of the US Department of Justice’s declaration that online poker be legislated and regulated on the state level, we are beginning to see more partnerships position themselves in advance of future online poker legislation passage in the US.

Most recently, 888 entered a strategic online poker partnership with WMS Gaming Incorporated, one of the worldwide leaders in designing, manufacturing and distributing physical gaming machines, gaming content and gaming software. 888 is already globally popular in the online gaming entertainment industry, and they stand to benefit greatly from the heavy US presence WMS Gaming currently owns.

888 has already developed a state-of-the-art online poker platform, and by hooking up with WMS Gaming and their huge physical presence in brick-and-mortar casinos throughout the US, the partnership will allow each firm to leverage the other’s customer database. WMS will be able to offer 888’s online poker solution to land-based casinos in the United States, currently as a “play for fun” product. And as states in the future pass online poker legislation, a structure will already be in place to smoothly move those free play customers to “pay for play” poker options.

As soon as Nevada earlier this year passed legislation allowing for online poker within their state boundaries, both 888 and WMS submitted interactive gaming license applications to Nevada’s State Gaming Control Board. They were not approved in the initial round of licensing in Nevada, but are still eligible for future licensing. Brian Mattingly is the CEO of 888, and when questioned about this new partnership with WMS, he stated that the opportunity is now available for both of those companies “to build a substantial online presence” in the US online poker community.

Orrin J. Edidin is the President of WMS, and he added that by aligning and combining the efforts of the two companies, the current and future customers of WMS will benefit from “one of the world’s most experienced online poker operators (888).” This is hardly the first or the last strategic partnership entered into by two respected leaders from the online and brick-and-mortar poker community in the last few months. And we will likely see many more virtual and brick-and-mortar poker partnerships spring up sooner than later. Neither company offered an early word as to where the new online poker entity would first appear, only commenting that their goal is a nationwide presence in the United States.

There are a number of additional US friendly online poker sites that you can learn more about here: https://www.thepokergrind.com/poker-rooms-us.html

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