Rational Group responds to AGA attack

According to New Jersey journalist John Brennan, PokerStars parent company The Rational Group has appealed in a fifteen-page letter to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to reject the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) formal opposition against its acquisition of The Atlantic Club casino .

In the letter obtained by Meadowlands Matters, a daily sports business/Meadowlands blog, The Rational Group requests State regulators reject “the AGA’s thinly-veiled anti-competitive campaign against the entry of a competitor into the market,” saying the AGA lacks a ‘significant interest in the outcome’ of the proceedings, is not likely to add constructively to their case and its participation would be destructively anti-competitive thereby doing a disservice to the people of New Jersey.

The Rational Group attorneys – Jeff Ifrah and David Deitch are quoted as saying the DGE and the New Jersey Casino Control Commission can deliver a decision “without the unsolicited assistance of a self-appointed group of Rational’s competitors” and that the AGA’s sole interest in the issue is purely “economic warfare”.

In response to the AGA’s request to participate in the licence application hearings, Ifrah said: “There is no precedent recognizing the right of a trade association comprised of competing casinos to participate in a license application”.

In related news, the Division of Gaming Enforcement reported a dismal month for Atlantic City Casinos who took in 12.5 percent less in February than the same period last year.  Atlantic City casinos collectively took in $145.3 million from slot machines – a decrease of 18 percent, while table games brought in $67 million, a marginal increase of just below 1 percent.

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