Lightning
Poker signs with Shuffle Master
By
Ryan McLane
Casino
industry giant Shuffle Master agreed last week to distribute
Lightning Poker's e-tables.
The
tables are a cross between online gaming and live poker play.
Players sit around a table, but look at their cards and chip
stacks on a video screen. Hands and bets are made electronically
-- eliminating the need for a dealer.
ShuffleMaster,
which distributes almost every type of casino utility product
including automated card-shufflers, chip sorters and electronic
table games, gives Lightning Poker a global platform for promoting
their automated poker tables.
"We
couldn't have found a better partner than Shuffle Master,"
stated Lightning Poker CEO Brian Haveson. "The service
excellence and distribution channels that Shuffle Master brings
Lightning Poker, provides us with worldwide product support
capabilities and sales contacts that will elevate our business
to the next level."
Lighting
Poker plans to install their e-poker gaming systems in at
least two California casinos and two Canadian casinos sometime
this spring, President Ron Skotarczak said.
The
company officially entered the e-poker Market in November
by installing their first machines at the Turning Stone Casino
in Verona, New York.
At
the time, Lightning Poker had a memorandum of understanding
for distribution with Shuffle Master, but last week's deal
makes their partnership official.
Skotarczak
said his company will now hand over all promoting, marketing,
distributing and servicing duties to Shuffle Master.
"We
are pleased to offer the Lightning Poker electronic poker
table as one of our electronic content delivery systems,"
said Paul C. Meyer, Shuffle Master president and chief operating
officer in a statement. "The consistent popularity of
poker makes automated poker tables a natural technological
progression. We are confident that the Lightning Poker platform,
especially when offering our proprietary content, will be
an important enhancement to casinos worldwide."
The
agreement may turn the e-poker table industry battle into
a war.
Only
two companies, Lightning Poker and PokerTek, have licensed
tables available for distribution in North America. And the
two have been battling it out in the courtroom and in the
marketplace.
Lightning
Poker filed a suit against Pokertek last fall, alleging PokerTek
violated antitrust laws and engaged in various acts of unfair
competition, civil conspiracy, trade slander and defamation,
including falsely advising Lightning Poker's customers that
Lightning Poker's products infringed PokerTek patents.
The
suit was dropped shortly after Pokertek released an official
statement saying that their patent was not violated.
PokerTek
established itself as the young market's leader last year,
signing installation agreements with Carnival Cruise Lines,
the Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood, Calif., the Buffalo
Run Casino in Miami, Okla. and the Osage National Million
Dollar Elm Casino in Tulsa, Okla.
"Our
success in the market and the success of our customers speak
for itself," said PokerTek Vice President of Sales and
Marketing Chris Halligan when asked about Lightning Poker's
new agreement. "We feel that anything that helps the
automated poker market grow is good for PokerTek."
Pokertek
has a distribution agreement with Aristocrat Gaming -- a deal
which provides them with access to Aristocrat's network of
55 gaming countries, but Pokertek retained their distribution
rights in America.
