Stories have surfaced in recent months about various brick-and-mortar casinos in the US looking to partner with leading online casino and poker providers, with the first deal now emerging.
Online poker provider bwin.party (which also runs sportsbetting and casino sites) has signed a deal with MGM Resorts and Boyd Gaming to launch an online venture if US laws change to allow it; each company would own a sizable stake in the entity that would operate under Party Poker and other brands.
In addition to working together on the new venture, MGM Resorts and Boyd plan to use bwin.party software to run online poker sites under their own brands.
The biggest obstacle for the companies (and others looking to pursue similar deals) are US laws that were passed in late 2006 that make it illegal for US banks to process funds to and from online gambling sites.
The companies said they are committed to working to get US laws changed on the federal level to allow for legal online poker sites in the US but that they would consider operating on a state-by-state case as well if individual states approve intra-state online poker sites (which the District of Columbia has already done and several other states are considering).
MGM and Boyd collectively own more than 30 casino in US states such as Nevada, Mississipi, Michigan, Illinois, and New Jersey, while bwin.party is the largest publicly-traded online gambling firm in the world.
