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China's Radically Different Take on Poker

Reports are confirmed that the World Poker Tour Enterprises and the Chinese government has worked out a $3 million deal for poker in the next five years in china. This is a huge step for WPT because online casinos and land-based brands al over the world are looking for “ins” into the Asian market. When initial speculation began about the deal with the Chinese government, most industry analysts were unsure that it would ever really go much beyond the negotiation stage of discussions because of China’s firm stance against all gambling activities – this includes online casinos, land-based, and poker gambling.

Now that the reports are in though, it seems as though the Chinese government is ready to soften the previously harsh stance on gambling and no longer equate the activity with prostitution and even worse activities. The new partnership will essentially focus on “[promoting] the sport of poker, by helping to create, expand and commercialise China's first ever national poker competition," comments a spokesperson for WPT Enterprises. Specifics of the deal include WPT has the right to match any deals offered to the Chinese government concerning poker – including online casino poker or any land-based poker rooms or other tournaments.

The President and CEO of WPT was present at the signings and no doubt is pleased with the favorable terms of the partnership for WPT. Both sides of the partnership seem to be equally weighted with neither China, nor WPT making out better than the other. The prospects of poker tournaments and later, online casino gambling, in China are promising and would cause a significant boom in the poker industry in the coming years if the government really does plan to loosen the tight restrictions in place against gambling activities.