The Ultimate Fighting Championship owners’ favorite tag line about the UFC fighting league is that the brawling is “As Real As It Gets.” They hope that the upcoming virtual poker experience they are going to provide for free on their new ultimate poker website in Las Vegas, and on social networking behemoth Facebook, is also as realistic as possible. The owners of the UFC also own the Station Casinos chain in Las Vegas, and they’re launching a free Internet poker site that they hope develops a large and possibly profitable player pool in advance of receiving one of the initial Vegas Internet gaming licenses.

Obviously, the male-dominated 25 to 45 year old demographic that drives the UFC and Mixed Martial Arts fighting is perfectly matched for poker and online gaming. That is why throughout the Station Casinos in Las Vegas, vacationers and visitors will be able to play for free in the new Ultimate Poker Casino, as long as they are on the Station Casino grounds. Providing free play is a great way to position free-play online poker players to a move into pay-for-play poker as soon as Fertitta Interactive, LLC obtains an online gaming license in Nevada.

Fertitta Interactive, LLC is the official name of the company that owns both the UFC and Station casinos, and it is owned predominantly by Fertitta family members. Fertitta Interactive also announced in the interview with the Las Vegas Sun that they will be launching Ultimate Poker Friday on Facebook as a free socially interactive poker game soon. Most recently, online gaming giant Zynga entered into an undisclosed agreement with Steve Wynn and Wynn Resorts to offer online poker in Nevada. Wynn Resorts has applied for one of the first Nevada Internet gaming licenses, and was approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The Nevada Gaming Commission is the final hurdle needed for license ownership, that and a hefty licensing fee.

The Fertitta family stated in the announcement that they’re planning to promote their Ultimate Poker Station Casino sites, as well as their Ultimate Poker Friday Facebook application, to UFC fighting fans. The two markets seem to be a match made in heaven, and a Fertitta Interactive spokesman said they are supportive of a nationwide federally legislated online gaming platform. For right now they are happy to be poised properly and profitably in the only state that currently is legally capable of providing online gaming in the US, one Fertitta Interactive official said.

That same official said that Fertitta Interactive, LLC has applied for all applicable Las Vegas Internet gaming licenses, and are still waiting on word from the Nevada Gaming Commission. As we have seen several virtual and brick-and-mortar companies do so far this year, if Fertitta Interactive is not approved for an initial license, they can always partner up with one of the few current Nevada Internet gaming license holders. On that news front, Reno based International Game Technology (IGT) and Las Vegas-based Bally Technologies Inc. (BYI) received the first two Internet gaming licenses in that state on June 21.

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