WPT Announces New Deal
Speculation has abounded in the online casino poker industry over whether the
World Poker Tour and the Chinese government were in fact in million dollar
negotiations. Well, just this past week the WPT confirmed a sponsorship deal to
the tune of $3 million. The online casino industry across the board is planning
to expand into the Asian market as soon as possible, so this new deal with the
WPT and China definitely proves that companies and brand names are integrating
slowly into the new market.
The WPT company is currently experiencing some financial setbacks that are not
predicted to in any way effect the longevity of the company, but have slightly
lowered the share price on the London AIM. The recent millions spent on an
in-house gambling platform largely contributed to the losses in the last quarter
though there are some other attributing factors.
On the up side though for both parties involved, the deal is hugely beneficial
for both the WPT Enterprises and the Chinese government. For the government, the
WPT is paying $3 million as a five-year sponsorship and marketing deal that
centers on the Chinese Traktor card game. For the WPT, the company will have
first negotiation rights in any deals that concern land-based or online casino
poker in the country. The half of the deal for the WPT is a bit riskier because
poker is currently not established and legal in the country; but most do predict
legalization in the near future.
This is just the latest of great deals for WPT – the President and CEO at WPT
also believes great possibilities for the online casino poker venture the
company recently initiated. He comments, "In June, we successfully re-launched
our online gaming site on the CryptoLogic platform. We continue to build on our
brand and business internationally as well, and to that end, we signed
television distribution deals in the Netherlands and Australia, which fall under
our PartyGaming sponsorship agreement, and just this week, we announced our
entry into China. With this positive momentum and our world-class brand, we are
enthusiastic about the prospects for 2007 and beyond."
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