PokerStars to Receive New Jersey License by March?

Ever since Black Friday back in 2011 and the unfortunate events in its aftermath, PokerStars has been trying to find their way back into the U.S. online poker market. For the past year or two as individual states started legalizing Internet poker, there has been talk of PokerStars getting a license in various states and most of the talk has been centered around a triumphant return in New Jersey.

In September last year it seemed that PokerStars might be hitting U.S. soil before the end of the year, but a number of unforeseen events led to a delay. Still, PokerStars remain steadfast in their attempts to reenter the U.S. and recent tweets by New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak seem very promising for the company.

@wggm@OPReport@DavidPurdum Adelson's play to ban eGaming in Congress is dead and Poker Stars new ownership too formidable to deny

— Senator Ray Lesniak (@SenatorLesniak) January 10, 201

By some reports, a big part of the reason PokerStars has not yet received an igaming license has been a power play by Sheldon Adelson, who has been attempting to ban online gambling in the U.S. But recent Lesniak tweets suggest that Adelson’s play is no longer as relevant and the new owners of PokerStars, the Amaya Group, are too big to be ignored by those in power. A Pokerstars New Jersey license seems imminent.

@OPReport@DavidPurdum March 2015
— Senator Ray Lesniak (@SenatorLesniak) January 10, 2015

Other sources seem to also indicate that PokerStars is coming back to America in 2015, as Adam Krejcik of Eilers Research also recently indicated that their chance of gaining a license on U.S. soil this year is higher than 50%.

PokerStars has been trying to penetrate the New Jersey market since 2012 when they attempted to purchase the Atlantic Club casino, but the deal never went through. In 2013, they partnered with another New Jersey casino, Resorts, in another effort to enter the market, but their license application was put on hold. It is very likely that the Pokerstars purchase by Amaya was actually a play to give PokerStars a reliable enough owner to allow them to enter the U.S. market, and now it seems finally the time is near.

The pause that was put on PokerStars' application was due to some PokerStars’ executives having outstanding issues with the DOJ. But now that the company was sold to Amaya, a Canadian company already regulated to do business in the New Jersey regulated market, and the executives in question have left the company, there seem to be few obstacles to the application finally being approved.

According to a statement released in 2013, if all is well with the license we may also see PokerStars launch a live poker room at the Resorts in New Jersey worth $10 million.