The World Poker Tour (WPT) has agreed a seven year Asian licensing agreement with Hong Kong-listed Ourgame International. The agreement gives Ourgame exclusive rights to the bwin.party-owned WPT brand in 14 Asian territories, including China, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, alongside non-exclusive rights in Japan.
Ourgame has an existing relationship with the WPT, having successfully launched the WPT National China tournament, and now plans to expand its presence into other Asian countries. This will include the launch of WPT branded tournaments, free-play and social gaming sites, distribution of WPT programming and streaming of live events.
Ourgame chief executive Frank Ng commented: “As China’s leading card and board game platform, we are very pleased to have found a great global partner in the World Poker Tour, as we start to expand from China to Asia.
“Over the past three years, we have worked together to not only establish WPT National China as one of the largest and most influential poker events in Asia, but also introduced world-class poker tournaments to the fast-expanding Chinese poker community. The WPT’s brand and global experience will be a significant asset to us as we expand overseas, and we have every confidence that we will together achieve much more success in Asia.”
WPT president Adam Pliska added: “The World Poker Tour has worked hard to expand its footprint throughout Asian territories over the last few years with much success. A big part of this success was based on our strong working partnership with Ourgame, who established WPT National China at MGM Grand Sanya.
“Ourgame has proven to be exactly the sort of business ally we seek; a credible group of visionaries with incredible strategic leverage and a true commitment to the long-term growth of poker,” Pliska added. “By working with Ourgame to expand the WPT brand in Asia, we are assuring that the recent strong growth of the WPT in the region will continue for many years to come.”
source : www.gamingintelligence.com
