World Poker Tour Sold To Ourgame Global

The WPT expanded under bwin.party, but was ultimately a loss-making acquisition tool. New owner Ourgame wants the brand name to help it to grow right into a ‘global social gaming company.’
The World Poker Tour happens to be sold to a Hong Kong-based media that are social developer for $35 million in cash.
Owner bwin.party confirmed the sale, to Ourgame International Holdings Ltd, early adding that the deal had no bearing on the acquisition talks surrounding the rest of its assets monday.
The WPT was a ‘non-core asset of the group,’ a business representative said, emphasizing the recent purchase of other units, such as Profit, the business’s social gaming arm.
Bwin is in negotiations with 888 Holdings, which has offered a cash that is undisclosed paper bid to acquire the company in its entirety, and Amaya Inc and GVC Holdings, that have proposed a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) joint bid that could essentially divvy up bwin.party’s assets involving the two.
User Acquisition Tool
Ourgame, a company that is relatively unknown the English-speaking world, is listed on the Hong Kong Stock market and specializes in online multi-platform card-based social games for the Chinese and East Asian markets, where it has 30 million active monthly users.
In 2014 its games brought in revenues of $76.7 million, and in December that year Ourgame acquired the liberties to use the WPT brand name in 14 countries across East Asia, including China, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. The two businesses cooperated on the organization of the WPT China, late last year.
Under the terms associated with agreement, bwin.party will continue to sponsor events on the trip in Europe and North America until 31, 2016 december.
The WPT was really a customer acquisition tool for bwin.party. Last year it yielded a reported total revenue of around $11.8 million, and a loss at the clean profits, before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization, of $4.6 million
Since it acquired the WPT from creator Steve Lipscomb’s WPT Enterprises, for $12.3 million, bwin.party has grown the tour from a set of 16 event that is main to more than 70 events across the world, with the addition of WPT Alpha8, WPT National and WPT DeepStack events.
Ourgame says that the purchase will help it grow to as a global gaming brand that is social.
‘Over the past six years we now have built WPT into a franchise that is global with tournaments and TV deals in many countries including Asia, where poker remains a popular and growing sport,’ said Martin Weigold, chief financial officer of bwin.party. ‘However, in keeping with our strategy of divesting our non-core assets, we believe that now is the right time to launch that value for investors therefore that people can focus our efforts on our core real cash gaming and technology company.’
Ourgame is an ‘incredible technology company,’ said Adam Plisksa, president and CEO of WPT, ‘and that was our weakness that is greatest.’
Bryan Micon Expected In Court On Thursday
Bryan Micon will return to Nevada to create a scheduled court date this Thursday. (Image: CalvinAyre.com)
Bryan Micon is coming right back to America to face the music regarding the charge filed against him by Nevada authorities.
According to court documents, Micon is anticipated to create a court look at A thursday hearing, and defense lawyer david chesnoff has stated that he expects micon become there for the court date.
Micon had been the chairman of Seals with Clubs, A bitcoin-based online poker room that was shut down earlier in 2010 after a February raid on Micon’s Las Vegas residence.
Which was one of the series of occasions, including a number of technical difficulties, which evidently led all of those other Seals with Clubs management team to shut down store.
Raid Contributes to Arrest Warrant
While Micon was launched without any costs filed against him following the raid, authorities did seize some computers and other equipment that is electronic belonged to him.
In April, Nevada officials issued an arrest warrant for Micon, alleging that he had operated an unlicensed gaming that is interactive in hawaii.
But by that point, Micon had taken refuge in Antigua with their household, having flown here soon after the initial raid. Micon’s return for the court hearing generally seems to end up being the time that is first has stepped foot in the United States since leaving almost a year ago.
Micon has since launched a new version of the site, known as swcpoker.eu, that will be also a poker site that is bitcoin-only.
Last week, prior to the scheduled court appearance, a judge recalled Micon’s arrest warrant, which allowed him to freely travel right back to Nevada. According to court records, Micon will probably face a brief booking at the Clark County Detention Center, but should then be released on his own recognizance.
Chesnoff Defends Another Tall Profile Client
If the name of Micon’s lawyer strikes you as familiar, it is probably it frequently in gambling-related cases over the past year, as well as in stories about cases involving other celebrity clients because you have been seeing.
Chesnoff was a vital member of the defense group that eventually got all charges dismissed against Paul Phua, the Malaysian businessman and high stakes poker player who was accused of operating an illegal World Cup sports betting band from a villa at Caesars Palace.
For the reason that instance, Chesnoff was successful in having very nearly all associated with the proof against Phua dumped of court due to FBI tactics which were later considered unconstitutional by a judge.
Chesnoff also represented Instagram star Dan Bilzerian after he was charged with counts associated with bomb-making following the detonation of a do-it-yourself explosive, spreading parts of a tractor-trailer cab across public lands outside Las Vegas.
In that case, Bilzerian avoided more serious charges and instead entered a misdemeanor, for which he paid a find and recorded a public service announcement for the Bureau of Land Management.
Micon may potentially face consequences much more severe than either Phua or Bilzerian, making the stakes even higher for Chesnoff and his client that is latest.
If Micon is found bad on the unlicensed interactive video gaming system charge, he could possibly address 10 years and jail and a $50,000 fine.
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Proposed Merger Could Form Bookmaking Superpower
Jim Mullen, Ladbrokes CEO, claims: ‘A merger has the potential to create significant cost synergies, creating value for both organizations’ shareholders.’ (Image: standard.co.uk)
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral, two of Britain’s largest betting organizations, have begun negotiations over a possible merger, which, if realized, would produce a bookmaking superpower.
An alliance for the two companies would produce a group with almost 4,000 traditional betting shops throughout the UK, dwarfing the incumbent market leader William Hill, which has around 2,400 outlets.
But there is no certainty that the discussions, which center on combining Ladbrokes with Coral Retail, Eurobet Retail, and Gala Coral’s online firms, will lead to an understanding, Ladbrokes stressed in a press release.
CEO Jim Mullen said that the board had been still determining whether a deal would be the right move for the company.
‘A merger with Gala Coral could create a combined business with significant scale and has the potential to create cost that is substantial, producing value for both companies’ investors. The Board has not yet concluded whether a deal is strategically appealing and certainly will be sent to shareholders on appropriate terms,’ Mullen said.
Digital Enhancement
Nonetheless, a consolidation of the two companies’ online operations may prove to be attractive to Ladbrokes. Mullen ended up being brought in three months ago to shore up the company’s electronic arm, which recorded shaky results in 2014. Total online profits for the year fell over 70 percent, from £10.8 million ($16.9m) to £3 million ($4.7m), while poker reported a 31 percent fall in revenue. On the web poker now is the reason just 2 percent of digital profits, the ongoing company said.
Over all its operations, Ladbrokes reported a fall that is large pre-tax profit for 2014, from £68m ($106.8m) to £38m ($59.7m). The business said that it expected to shut 60 UK stores in 2010.
‘Since becoming CEO my focus has been on a more aggressive want to build digital scale and grow our recreational client base across all stations, which is key to making a more sustainable and growing Ladbrokes,’ said Mullen, who previously oversaw the development of main rivals William Hill’s online operations. ‘My plans are well advanced and I also look forward to presenting them to shareholders.’
1998 Acquisition Attempt
Ladbrokes previously attempted to buy Coral back in 1998, nevertheless the acquisition was vetoed by the Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Mandelson. The impact of removing Coral as an essential third national force that is competitive the off-course betting market, would, stated Mandelson, ‘lead to a weakening of price competition at the nationwide degree; a dampening effect on innovation; and a decrease in consumer option.’
If completed, the offer would be structured as a reverse takeover of publicly traded Ladbrokes by Coral, which is owned by private equity planet 7 oz no deposit codes 2017 firms.
New Documents Reveal Pete Rose Bet on Baseball as Player
New documents reveal that Pete Rose gambled in the Reds while he was still playing for the group. (Image: USATSI)
Pete Rose admitted more than a decade ago that he had bet on baseball while the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, and that alone was ample for Major League Baseball to justify Rose that is keeping permanently to participate in baseball activities.
But Rose has always maintained, up through this year, which he never made such wagers when he had been a person.
Now it seems as if even Rose’s partial defense might have been a lie.
On Monday, ESPN’s Outside the Lines published pages they obtained from a notebook that has been gathered as an element of a raid regarding the home of Michael Bertolioni, a previous associate of Rose’s, by the United States Postal Inspection Service in October 1989.
Notebook Shows Bets from 1986
Into the notebook, there are details of bets by Rose that took place in 1986, the final 12 months of his playing career when he served being a player-manager for the team. The pages revealed by Outside the Lines cover betting activity that covers March through 1986 july.
Critically, the notebook does not show any proof (or suggestion) that Rose ever bet against the Reds at any time. While not everything in the material is legible, the book does show that Rose bet on baseball on at the least 30 days during that duration.
On 21 of those days, there were bets by Rose on the Reds, including on at least some games that Rose played in himself. Rose also bet heavily on other sports, specially on basketball.
The majority of Rose’s bets had been for $2,000, regardless of sports he was betting on. Their single largest bet was a $5,500 bet regarding the Boston Celtics, one that he lost.
Dowd Finds Closure from Documents
The former federal prosecutor who headed up the Major League Baseball investigation into Rose’s betting and lent his name to the infamous Dowd Report that led to Rose’s ban from baseball, the new information served as a vindication of the work he did back in 1989 for John Dowd.
‘This does it,’ Dowd said. ‘ This closes the hinged home.’
The information in Bertolini’s notebook had been unknown as yet because it comes down from an investigation into mail fraud and had nothing to do with Rose or gambling in general.
Since that time, the notebook has been under a court-ordered seal in the New York office of this nationwide Archives, and officials have actually declined to discharge it publically.
Outside the Lines had Dowd newly review the revealed documents as part of their tale.
‘We knew that [Bertolini] recorded the wagers, and that he bet himself, but we never ever had his records,’ Dowd said. ‘This is the last bit of the puzzle on a brand New York betting operation with organized crime. And, of course, [Rose] betting while he was a player.’
New Info May Scuttle Reinstatement
The unveil is likely to be described as a setback that is major Rose, who recently applied for reinstatement with brand new commissioner Rob Manfred.
However, Rose’s lawyer issued a statement saying that they would not comment in the developments that are new.
‘that we would not comment on specific matters relating to reinstatement,’ the statement read since we submitted the application earlier this year, we committed to MLB. ‘I need certainly to maintain that. To make sure, I’m wanting to sit down with Manfred to address my entire history—the good and the bad—and my long journey that is personal baseball.’
Pete Rose played within the major leagues, primarily with the Reds, from 1963 to 1986, during which time he collected a record that is all-time of hits.
But in 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame voted to exclude anyone on the list that is ineligible being considered for addition, that has held Rose from being honored as you of baseball’s all-time greats.
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