End of Road for Ultimate Gaming
10 years ago
15 Nov
According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, after 19 months of operation Ultimate Gaming will be ending its involvement in Nevada. The first regulated online room in USA. The company employees were broken the bad news on Friday morning. Cited reason for the shutdown is the lack of profitability.
News hardly comes as a surprise to anyone who’s been following development of the situation with any interest. Parting ways with great number of their sponsored players like Jason Somerville, attempts to attract players with rake-free tables and similar business decisions were all indicative of what was announced yesterday.
We regret to inform you that Ultimate Poker will be ceasing operations in Nevada. Please click here for more details:
http://t.co/vSSIwrlSjy
— Ultimate Poker (UltimatePoker) November 14, 2014Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling stated that online poker in Nevada fell short of achieving the projected profit numbers. In his words, state-by-state process of legalization has created ‘an extremely cost-prohibitive and challenging operating environment. It was not revealed how many employees will be affected by the decision to seize operation.
19 Months of Struggle
$1 million was invested in the initial marketing campaign when Ultimate Poker first launched in Nevada and they enlisted one of the most recognizable faces in the industry, Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari, as the spokesperson for the brand. It was never going to be easy with all the obstacles. As Breitling further explained, there were people from all over the USA registering, but the hard part was getting them to Nevada to actually play.
To further complicate things for the site, launch of WSOP.com seriously sliced in their share of the market. On top of all that, some players are still playing on unregulated, ‘illegal’ offshore sites, further diluting already small potential player-pool.
According to PokerScout, average number of players online at the same on Ultimate Poker time was just 60 for the past couple of weeks. Combined revenue for the three Nevada gaming sites hit the new low in September, when they reported the total income of just $693,000.
The (small in population) Nevada market cannot support more than one operator. So it really was just a matter of time and how long a company was willing to withstand losses before closing down. @Adam Krejcik
As many have speculated, and this feeling was once again reiterated by gaming analyst Adam Krejcik, relatively small population of Nevada cannot support three online gambling sites. One site is more than enough and that’s probably what it will come down to in the end.
According to Ultimate Poker statement on their web site, all ‘U-dollars’ and tournament tickets will be converted to real money starting on Tuesday, November 18. Cashier balances can be withdrawn using normal procedures or players can wait it out to receive the check to their registered address from the week commencing November 24.
Alex Dreyfus, owner of the Global Poker Index, made several comments on his Twitter after the closure was announced.
Sad that @UltimatePoker has to shut down, but unfortunately so predictable :( since day one. Bad day for poker.
— Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) November 14, 2014
UltimateBet / UltimatePoker. Well. Don't call your business Ultimate in gaming. Doesn't end up well.
— Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) November 14, 2014
I believe that Ultimate Poker lost $30m to $50m (acquisition, development, operations & marketing) I wish I'd have half of it for GPI :)
— Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) November 14, 2014
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