Calling The Clock: The Poker Boom Will Come From the East

In this week’s Calling the Clock we bring you news of some outstanding partnerships in India and China, news of an online gambling bill in Michigan, and a new signing for partypoker.

If you want to attract the most eyeballs to your game, then the sensible approach is to take your game to the place where the most eyeballs are. China and India have over 5 billion between them, and this week some of poker’s major players started making friends in that part of the world.

Global Poker League (GPL) creator, Alex Dreyfus, agreed on a strategic partnership with China’s Sina Sports, making them the “Official Digital Media Partner of GPL” in China. The Sina Sports website is the fourth most visited in that part of the world according to Alex Rankings.

The deal grants them over 400 hours of GPL coverage streamed to the Chinese public, and exclusive access to the GPL roster of players. One of those players, Montreal Nationals, Martin Jacobson, has recently returned from China where he did some work for Tencent Poker, and he told me that they treated him like a megastar. The deal will also ensure an expansion of the GPL with a Beijing-based GPL franchise expected to be born sometime in 2017.