888 continue to plough full steam ahead through the choppy waters of stateside online poker regulation, this time forging ties with Wynn Interactive, and Mac users are finally going to get a taste of the 888.com medicine.
It seems a day doesn’t pass without 888 Holdings dominating the front pages of the online poker news. It was just yesterday that we brought you up to date with the new alliance between Golden Gaming, 888 and Treasure Island, and today the paper boys are throwing their goods into the yards with a partnership with Steve Wynn splashed on the front pages.
The billionaire owner of the Wynn and Encore Hotel & Casinos wants in on this online poker thing, and the All American Poker Network (AAPN) is his chosen route to success, something that the 888 CEO Brian Mattingley is delighted about: “This is exactly the type of partnership we’ve envisioned when we formed AAPN with our partners Avenue Capital. The challenge of establishing a robust, entertaining offering with ample player liquidity is one of our prime goals in direct continuum to 888’s success in other regulated markets such as Spain and Italy.”
The latest deal sees the burgeoning poker network creating Nevada affiliations with Treasure Island, Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) and now Wynn Interactive. Delaware affiliations with Scientific Games have also been forged and a route through New Jersey courtesy of their relationship with CIE is also in the making. You have to give the team at 888 some accolades, as seemingly everything they touch turns to gold these days.
The news of the 888/Wynn partnership comes two years after a similar announcement stirred the world of online gambling when Steve Wynn announced details of an impending relationship with PokerStars.
“We are convinced that the lack of regulation of Internet gaming within the US must change,” said Wynn, chief executive of Las Vegas casino company Wynn Resorts, in a statement back in 2011. “We must recognize that this activity is occurring and that law enforcement does not have the tools to stop it.”
As we all know, the federal government stuck a few spoons into the spokes of that venture after indicting PokerStars during Black Friday, and Wynn quite rightly did a Pontius Pilate.
Mac Users Can Finally Find Out What All The Fuss is About
If, like me, you prefer to do your business on the shiny, smart laptops made by the geeks from Apple, then you will be used to the exasperation of not being able to play on the full range of online poker sites. Fortunately, 888 are about to change all of that after their Mac client beta testing has turned alpha.
It was roughly a month ago that 888 released a beta version of its Mac compatible software that offered a full native experience, and the trials must have proved successful, as the new version is downloadable for the general public with immediate effect.
The Mac version contains cash games, tournament games and also Omaha and Stud action. The news comes hot on the heels of the upgraded mobile client and release of Snap Poker.
Mac users have never had it so good with PokerStars, Full Tilt, PartyPoker and 888 now playable on the best goddam hardware in the business.
