The parent company of online poker giant PokerStars has decided to jump into the U.S. legal sports betting market fray with New Jersey’s Resorts Casino Hotel.
The Stars Group (TSG) announced on Thursday that it extended its partnership with the casino, building on their existing agreement for online casino and poker games under the PokerStarsNJ brand.
The announcement came just a day after fantasy sports giant DraftKings announced its partnership with Resorts Casino, as well as the release of a new app allowing users to place sports wagers from any point within New Jersey’s boundaries.
According to TSG, its partnership with Resorts Casino now includes online and mobile sports wagering through the BetStars brand. Betstars, which is the group’s European-focused online sports betting brand, holds nearly a dozen sports betting licenses globally, offering support in 17 languages.
“We believe The Stars Group is uniquely qualified with the experience and insight needed to make sports betting a success in New Jersey,” TSG SVP Strategy & Operations, USA Matt Primeaux said in a statement.
In a nutshell, TSG will provide a wide range of betting products including in-play wagering, bespoke accumulators, and live streaming, as well as an ecosystem of free-to-play products and promotions and sports content, for dozens of sports, including professional and NCAA football, basketball, and baseball as well as horse racing, hockey, soccer, tennis and other sporting markets.
David Rebuck, who heads up the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, said the Stars Group-Resorts Casino deal has been forwarded to state regulators for approval.
TSG operates online and mobile sportsbook in the UK, Europe and Australia. Its operations generated more than $800 million in betting revenues in 2017.
In April, the Canadian gaming company announced the acquisition of Sky Betting & Gaming in a deal worth $4.7 billion. The Sky Bet brand is one of the leading mobile-led sportsbook in the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market.
TSG also bought the subsidiary of William Hill Plc in Australia earlier this year.
