The World Poker Tour is likely to hold a tournament at The Grand Ho Tram casino resort in Vietnam for the first time next year, a senior executive from the property has told GGRAsia.
“We are expecting to go ahead with a World Poker Tour event in May,” said Shaun McCamley, The Grand’s president.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series.
Mr McCamley told us there was no information yet on whether the event at The Grand would have television coverage.
Nonetheless the linkup with the WPT could further raise the profile of a casino venue that initially struggled to find customers following its July 2013 opening, due in part to Vietnam’s ban on locals playing in the country’s casinos.
The Grand is a beachside resort located 120-kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.
In other developments, the WPT has announced it is taking steps to increase its presence in Asia by signing a licensing and promotional agreement with Hong Kong-listed Ourgame International Holdings Ltd. Ourgame is a provider of online card games and board games.
Under the terms of the agreement, the WPT says Ourgame will have the exclusive right to use the WPT logo and trademarks in more than a dozen Asian jurisdictions, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Ourgame and the WPT have collaborated previously to create the WPT National China poker tournament. The MGM Grand Sanya located on the Chinese holiday island of Hainan has hosted the WPT National China poker tournament for the past three years.
