A petition filed by the American Gaming Association(AGA) in recent days to stop PokerStars‘ purchase of the Atlantic Club in Atlantic City has been a hot topic of debate in our community. On Monday, PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, struck back, issuing a memo of its own that called the AGA’s petition a “thinly veiled anti-competitive campaign against the entry of a competitor into the market.”

PokerStars’ arguments began with, “The AGA’s petition should be rejected because it lacks a ‘significant interest in the outcome’ of these licensing proceedings.” The site needs the approval of New Jersey gaming regulators in order for the acquisition to occur.

PokerStars, which is in the final stages of purchasing the struggling Atlantic City gaming establishment, called the AGA’s tactics “warfare,” pointing out, “The AGA’s sole interest here is economic warfare. If AGA is permitted to participate here, the Commission will have set a precedent inviting competitors to intervene in every licensing proceeding, thereby permanently multiplying the proceedings and delaying the disposition of those matters indefinitely into the future.”

With New Jersey’s Legislature and Governor officially green-lighting online gambling in February, PokerStars could parlay its land-based presence in New Jersey into a legal and regulated online poker room. The site admitted no wrongdoing in its settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, but was not guaranteed to receive a license in any state in which it wanted to do business.

PokerStars also blasted the relevance of the AGA’s involvement: “The AGA’s petition also fails entirely to show that the AGA is ‘likely to add constructively to the case without causing undue delay or confusion.'” The room noted that anyone can look up the facts of the Black Friday case online and, because of this, it said, “The Division is no doubt aware of these facts, and hence the AGA’s participation would be virtually valueless.”

Finally, PokerStars bluntly pointed out that the AGA, which represents major land-based casino enterprises like Caesars Entertainment, Boyd Gaming, and MGM, is engaging in an “anti-competitive” tactic that would “do a disservice to the people of New Jersey.” It added, “Having fully and finally resolved the civil action against it in the New York Federal Court without admitting any wrongdoing, PokerStars now promises to infuse the New Jersey economy and create jobs by bringing brand name recognition and well-recognized quality to the state.”

The letter wraps up by pointing out that Caesars unsuccessfully tried to sell the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas (pictured), the home of the annual World Series of Poker, to PokerStars. Whether a bitter aftertaste from either party led to the AGA’s petition is not wholly clear.

Jeff Ifrah, who has been closely tied to litigation involving the old Full Tilt, crafted the letter, which is dated March 10. You can read it in its entirety by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

In a thread in the Poker Legislation forum, members of PocketFives have been largely critical of the AGA, with one member portending, “The AGA is desperate, as pretty soon, they will be irrelevant along with all the other Nevada dinosaurs. I look forward to when half the states have PokerStars available, and Nevada, which will exclude them from their state, will have 19 people on average playing on Caesars.com and MGM.com.”

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