According to several sources, popular online gaming company Bwin.Party is positioning themselves to enter the future American poker market. Specifically, they have been hard at work courting federal and state officials in the states of California and New Jersey.

“We have made the decision to target strategic partners,” said Jim Ryan, the company’s Co-CEO. “At federal level, we are finalizing agreements with a couple of parties positioned nicely to operate in that market. In California, we are well advanced with a particular party. The same in New Jersey, consistent with where we are at a federal level.”

Though the current online poker climate is less than hospitable, Bwin.Party’s actions show that there is still a great deal of optimism surrounding the industry’s future. With the government likely to eventually legalize the popular game, companies around the globe are jockeying for footholds in the American market. So far, Bwin.Party has been one of the leaders. Their impressive group of poker brands (PartyPoker, WPT, Poker Room, and Club WPT) gives them one of the strongest portfolios among the major players.

“The real impact of Black Friday,” continued Ryan, “is to draw a red line through sites we don’t believe will be able to have a chance to enter that market, the No 1 and 2 players and Ultimate Bet and Absolute poker. So where does that position us? Numbers 1, 3, 5, 6, 9.”

There have also been rumors that Bwin.Party has been involved in a potential purchase of Full Tilt Poker. Ryan quashed those rumors, simply stating that him and his company “are not looking at the business and have no plans of looking at it.”