Big day for Pokerstars in Atlantic Club case

Friday May 17 is a key date in the attempt by Pokerstars parent The Rational Group to acquire Atlantic City land casino Atlantic Club, with the Isle of Man company’s request for a restriction on the sale of the casino to anyone else under challenge in a New Jersey court by casino owners Colony Capital – Resorts International Holdings.

Colony Capital has argued against the injunction, obtained by Rational after the casino owner walked away from the sale with over $11 million of Pokerstars’ money in its wallet, claiming the deal had run out of time .

Since then Rational-Pokerstars has submitted its argument defending the injunction and debunking the Colony-RIH submissions that it was not fully aware of the allegedly poor reputation of Rational and its management; the expiry date problem and that it should be allowed to sell the struggling casino to anyone else if it chooses.

The poker information site Diamond Flush Poker.com carries a detailed breakdown of the latest Rational arguments giving the lie to Colony’s claims, and this useful summary can be viewed here:

http://diamondflushpoker.com/2013/05/pokerstars-files-brief-to-support-preliminary-injunction-vs-atlantic-club/#more-3738

In its argument that the injunction should remain in force, Rational accuses Colony of now admitting that it has an intention to sell off the casino to someone else, implying that insisting on the validity of the expiry date and attacking Rational’s reputation are ploys to kill the Rational deal in order to secure a better offer from another purchaser.

Today Atlantic County Judge Raymond Batten will consider the submissions of both companies.