India it witnessing a rapid growth in poker as international poker operators look to launch into a market that is expected to expand at a rapid rate. The latest company to venture into India is Mediarex Sports & Entertainment – the company that launched the Global Poker League (GPL) in 2015.

The Global Poker League was founded by Alex Dreyfus with the intention of sportifing poker and transforming its reputation from being a game of chance to a game of skill. The first edition of the GPL which was held in 2015 brought together teams from Europe and Americas and did reasonably well. However the GPL was not held in 2016 as Dreyfus believed that a number of changes had to be rolled out to the format and strategy to ensure that it had a better response and a bigger impact.

Dreyfus Launches GPL India

Mediarex decided to put the GPL on hold for sometime and decided to focus on China – as there are many who believe that China is where the next poker boom will take place. Mediarex announced the launch of GPL China which is to take place before the end of the year. Now the company has also confirmed that it will launch GPL India and will release more information including tournament dates shortly.

GPL India will be a much smaller version of the GPL and GPL China and will consist of just 6 teams who have been named after the top cities in India where poker has a strong presence. The six teams are Bengaluru Hackers, Chennai Sharks, Mumbai Jetsetters, Kolkata Creators, Delhi Diehards and Ahmedabad Aphas.

India – Home To Multiple Poker Leagues

It is interesting to note that in 2017, India has already seen the launch of two poker leagues. The Indian Poker League and the Poker Sports League (PSL) were launched to popularize the game of poker in India and to educate legislators and players that poker is a game of skill and not chance. Both leagues are organizing small tournaments and there is no cash prizes involved as poker is still banned in most Indian states.

Dreyfus is not too worried about the competition as both these leagues operate on a different model. These leagues have their respective teams sponsored by Indian companies who fund their respective franchise. GPL India on the other hand will rely entirely on Mediarex Entertainment for funding and promotional activities.

Tags: Alex Dreyfus, GPL, GPL China, GPL India, India, IPL, Mediarex, PSL

This entry was posted on Monday, September 4th, 2017 at 1:28 am and is filed under Poker Industry News, Poker Promotions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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