MGM Resorts' choice of Bwin.Party as a partner while applying for online poker licenses in Nevada might seem unusual. prosecutors it had run an illegal gambling operation and engaged in bank and wire fraud.Īmong its principal backers: a California-born woman who made a fortune in phone sex and Web pornography businesses that, like the pioneering online-gambling company that became Bwin.Party, faced multiple allegations of wrongdoing. In 2009, an earlier incarnation of the company paid $105 million while admitting to U.S. Online expertise isn't the only thing that distinguishes Bwin.Party. 'We'll be out of the gate as soon as anybody,' MGM Resorts Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren boasted to investors in February. Murren says his company's online poker tie-up with Bwin.Party, backed by onetime phone-sex and porn entrepreneur Ruth Parasol, gives it a competitive edge. MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren attends a news conference in Hong Kong on May 19, 2011. MGM Resorts took 25 percent of a new venture 65 percent owned by Bwin.Party, with smaller Las Vegas casino operator Boyd Gaming getting the remaining 10 percent. So last October it hooked up with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc, a London-listed, Gibraltar-based specialist that rakes in more from Web betting than any other publicly traded company.
