It ain’t over yet, Pokerstars tells Atlantic Club owners

Earlier this year the attempt by Pokerstars parent The Rational Group to acquire a land casino in Atlantic City ended in failure when the online poker company was unable to achieve New Jersey licensing within the time stipulated in the acquisition agreement with Atlantic Club owners Colony Capital LLC.

By the time the expiry date issue had been used by Colony Capital to back out of the deal, Rational had already handed over $11 million of the purchase price, and litigation ensued as it tried to recover these monies or complete the deal by extending the expiry deadline.

Unfortunately, New Jersey Judge Raymond Batten ruled against Pokerstars, effectively letting Colony Capital retain the money it had been paid.

This week Pokerstars made its next move by filing a 34-page appeal against the Batten finding, claiming that the judge’s assessment of the expiry timeline was open to question, and suggesting that the de facto timeline was the award of a licence to Rational by the New Jersey regulators.

By ruling against Rational the judge had disrupted the process and halted the regulatory vetting initiative, Rational’s legal representatives claim, additionally raising questions over the allegedly improper testimony from Colony Capital-Atlantic Club witnesses, and the judge’s reliance on documents that had not been formally introduced as evidence in the case.

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