New Zealand Casino Hoping For $1 Million Poker Tournament

There is no doubt that the game of poker is becoming one of the most popular in the world. In the United States, the popularity of the game has grown so much, that it is currently the third most watched sport on television. The first two are football and car racing.

Other countries have nee catching up to America with the game of poker. There has been a huge jump in the amount of participants in Australia since one o0f their own, Joe Hachem, won the main event at the World Series of Poker.

New Zealand is slowly watching as their country catches up in the poker industry. One casino, SkyCity, however, wants to bring the big name players to New Zealand. The controlling company of the casino is looking to bring a million dollar tournament to the country.

"I think SkyCity has the fundamentals in place to host such a tournament. But we will have to offer at least a million," said Ejaad Dean, SkyCity's new table game boss. He has been in the business for over twenty years, and believes the casino can attract the big names.

Others believe that it will be difficult to gain the money needed to pull off such a prestigious tournament. Mick Ryan, who operates the New Zealand Poker Champs out of Christchurch, believes that current laws will make it difficult to hold such a large tournament.

"If we can't attract sponsorship we can't attract the players," said Ryan. He was referring to country laws that state that New Zealanders are banned from promoting gambling. In essence, that means the casino would not be allowed to advertise the poker sites that would possibly sponsor the event.

Still, the idea is in place, and the poker minds are working on ways that the million dollar tournament can succeed.

June 3, 2008
Posted By Larry Rutherford
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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