Atlantic City, N.J. - A bid by the largest online poker website to buy an Atlantic City casino is touching off a battle with brick-and-mortar casinos that is getting very nasty, very quickly.

The Rational Group, the parent company of PokerStars, wants to buy The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. If approved, it would mark the first ownership of an American casino by a solely-online gambling company.

But The American Gaming Association, the trade association representing traditional brick-and-mortar casinos nationwide, is urging New Jersey regulators to reject the bid. It claims PokerStars "was operated as a criminal enterprise" for years, capturing more than half the $7 billion-a-year online poker market.

The company agreed last year to pay $547 million to the U.S. Justice Department and $184 million to poker players overseas to settle a case alleging money laundering, bank fraud and illegal gambling. It admitted no wrongdoing, and says it is in good standing with governments around the world.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission on Wednesday will consider whether to let the association participate in PokerStars' hearing.

The gaming association said in a filing it submitted to the casino commission that it opposes the PokerStars bid "because the integrity of the gaming industry would be gravely compromised by any regulatory approvals of PokerStars, a business built on deceit, chicanery and the systematic flouting of U.S. law."

However, because The American Gaming Association is not a party to the PokerStars licensing application, the brief it sent to the casino commission cannot legally be considered at this point. The association is seeking to intervene in the licensing hearing.

PokerStars has emerged as perhaps the last, best hope to save The Atlantic Club, which has been struggling to compete in the cutthroat Atlantic City market for years. It came close to having to close two years ago, until a last-minute infusion of cash from its owner, Colony Capital.

Colony agreed to pump $15 million into it to keep it afloat. In return, lenders foreclosed on and took ownership of two casinos in Mississippi that Colony owned, Bally's Tunica and Resorts Tunica, and wiped out the debt for the Atlantic Club.