Playtech begins its US comeback

Playtech signed a joined venture with US-based ScientificGames to provide play-for-fun poker games at the hope of getting a foot in the door of the US market before changes are made to US legislation in order to be better positioned in the market when said changes finally happen.

The joint venture is called Sciplay and it entered into an online poker service contract with California Online Poker Association (COPA) that includes LA-based Commerce Casino that operates one of the world’s largest poker rooms.

Playtech, one of the world’s biggest gaming software companies, has started its strategic move back to the US market at the hope of impending change in US anti-gambling legislation.

Back in 2006 when the US passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) Playtech took a strategic move and backed out of the US market. It withdrew any of its licensed brands in casino, poker and other games from availability to US players.

Playtech continued to grow as a company and focused its efforts in the European e-gaming market and new emerging markets in Africa and Asia.

In the meantime in the US many started question the validity and enforceability of the UIGEA and started calling for an overhaul in US federal policy towards the game of poker.

Individual states passed legislation allowing them to license online operators to provide intrastate poker services to residents of those states, and many politicians and leaders in the US casino industry started calling for a fair new legislation that will ensure US players’ funds remain in the US and are not lost to offshore operators.

The recent events of Black Friday and federal indictments brought against operators that violated US federal laws, only served as a sharp warning call that changes are required and should come as soon as possible and put an end to US players uncertainty and legal ambiguity.