Casino industry mogul Shuffle Master agreed last week to distribute Lightning Poker's electronic tables.

This table is the intersection between an online game and a real poker game. Players sit around the table but see stacks of cards and chips on the video screen. Hands and bets are done electronically. No dealers are required.

Distributing almost all kinds of casino utility products, including automated card shufflers, chip classifiers, and electronic table games, Shufflemaster provides Lightning Poker with a global platform to promote automated poker tables.

"We couldn't have found a better partner than Shuffle Master," Lightning Poker CEO Brian Haveson said. "The service excellence and distribution channels that Shuffle Master offers to Lightning Poker offer product support capabilities and sales contacts around the world to take our business to the next level."

Lighting Poker plans to install e-poker gaming systems at at least two California casinos and two Canadian casinos around the spring, President Ron Skotarzak said.

The company officially entered the e-poker market in November by installing its first machine at the Turningstone Casino in Verona, New York.

At the time, Lightning Poker signed a memorandum of understanding with Shufflemaster for distribution, but the deal last week made the partnership official.

SCOTARZAK said the company will now hand over all its PR, marketing, distribution and services to shuffle masters.

"We are excited to offer the Lightning Poker Electronic Poker Table as one of our electronic content delivery systems," Shuffle Master President and Chief Operating Officer Paul C. Meyer said in a statement. "Poker's continued popularity makes the automated poker table a natural technological advancement. We are confident that the Lightning Poker platform will be a significant improvement for casinos worldwide, especially when we provide our exclusive content."

The agreement could turn the fight in the e-poker table industry into a war.

Only two companies have licensed tables to sell in North America - Lightning Poker and PokerTech - and both are battling the issue in court and in the market.

Lightning Poker filed a lawsuit against PokerTek last fall, alleging it violated anti-trust laws and engaged in various unfair competition, civil conspiracy, trade slander and defamation acts, including falsely advising clients of Lightning Poker that its products violated PokerTek patents.

The lawsuit was dropped shortly after Falkirk issued an official statement saying their patents were not infringed.

Fokkertek last year established itself as a leader in the young market, signing installation deals with Carnival Cruise Line, Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood, California, Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma, and Osage National Million Dollar Elm Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"Our success in the market and our customers' success speaks for itself," said Chris Halligan, vice president of sales and marketing for Fokker when asked about Lightning Pokker's new contract. "We think anything that helps grow the automated poker market is good for Fokker."

PokerTech has a distribution agreement with "Aster Gaming," a deal that gives it access to a network of aristocrats comprising 55 gaming countries, but PokerTech maintains distribution rights in the United States.  슬롯