Chili's Dreyfus takes over GPI
Zokay Entertainment, the latest venture of the Chiligaming founder, acquires poker ranking system from Pinnacle Entertainment.
Zokay Entertainment, a group led by Chiligaming founder Alex Dreyfus (pictured), has announced the acquisition of the Global Poker Index (GPI) from US land-based group Pinnacle Entertainment.
Pinnacle had bought the poker player ranking system from former owner Federated Sports+Gaming in the June auction which also saw it acquire the Epic Poker League and Heartland Poker Tour, an auction in which Dreyfus was another of the interested parties.
Zokay, whose portfolio also includes the Deepstack Poker Open and the in-hibernation Chili brands – as well as industry publication iGaming France – intends to augment the existing ranking system of the top 300 tournament poker players with more projects under the GPI brand.
In addition the ranking list, currently published in USA Today, will be distributed to more mainstream media publications, with Dreyfus explaining to eGaming Review: “We are looking for sports newspapers in every country, to really make poker a sport and a competition.
“It’s a tool to be used to promote poker, in regulated markets, and promote it as a sport and with values. If you are a poker room that has few players in the top 20, then it’s a way to communicate in the mainstream media, which currently doesn’t know that much about poker,” he added.
He intends to monetise the offering through partnerships with poker sites along these lines, as well as affiliate and marketing agreements, and will next year launch worldwide and national versions of the GPI Awards in Las Vegas and Europe.
As part of its development of the GPI, Zokay will also roll out a series of national rankings for 17 different countries, initially focusing on Asia, as well as introducing the GPI VIP Club, offering players various perks including access to a dedicated VIP representative.
“A ranking system of this calibre is needed in the poker industry to bring it in line with other competitive contests of skill and sports industries. The GPI provides a ranking system on par with those you would find in golf or tennis,” Dreyfus explained, describing the GPI as “The best poker ranking system in the world, and we plan to make it even better.”
Chiligaming’s B2B igaming platform was sold to Nevada licensee Bally Technologies in February this year, with the former iPoker licensee merging its dot.com poker offering with Poker770 soon after. Its French-facing joint venture, Iliad Gaming, was shut down last month in the face of a difficult dot.fr market.