Stars readies Macau poker room launch
Branded room at City of Dreams will be largest of its kind in the region.
PokerStars has announced plans to launch what it claims is “The largest branded poker room in Macau”.
No date has yet been given for the opening of the room, which will be located on the main floor of the City of Dreams casino.
Stars previously had a smaller branded room in the Grand Waldo, also in the Chinese region, while next month will see the operator launch its live poker room at the Hippodrome casino in London.
This month has also seen the launch of the company’s poker room at Spain’s Casino Gran Madrid, following last December’s announcement that the room would open in Q1 this year.
The City of Dreams room will host a number of PokerStars’ land-based events including the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour and Macau Millions tournaments, the latter having been postponed last year following the expiry of Stars’ deal with former host venue Casino Grand Lisboa.
Danny McDonagh, PokerStars director of live operations for Asia-Pacific, said “Players know that PokerStars is synonymous with integrity and high quality. That makes this collaboration a natural fit because City of Dreams has been at the forefront in providing the most innovative and premium gaming experience that is second to none in Macau.”
Overall gambling revenues from Macau surpassed those in Las Vegas last year, coming in at US$38bn, but fell short of Wall Street forecasts in January. It first overtook Vegas as the territory with the highest takings from gambling in 2007, with the industry contributing around 70% of Macau’s government income.