Home / Poker News February 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – PokerStars Secures Belgium License
The Poker Grapevine – PokerStars Secures Belgium License
Posted by: James Carter. - Fri, 2012-02-10 15:28
PokerStars have managed to break into the otherwise quite hermetically sealed-up Belgian
on line poker market. In order to achieve the feat, the online poker site has teamed up with local gambling big-dog Circus Groupe. The two partners have announced on Wednesday that PokerStars.be has picked up a full Belgian license, which will allow it to offer Belgian players online games as well as access to all the international events. Thus, players in Belgium can breathe a sigh of relief: they will be able to legally play in the Sunday Million, as well as in the WCOOP and SCOOP events.
The license was issued by the Belgian Gaming Commission and it represents quite an exclusive ticket for PokerStars. The online poker operation has teamed up with Circus Groupe back in 2010. The seemingly innocuous partnership has resulted in a virtually exclusive deal for PokerStars, as the Belgian Gaming Commission is actively engaged in keeping other operators away from the Belgian online poker market.
According to Guy Templer, Head of PokerStars’ Business Development, the move was in line with the site’s strategy to try to obtain licenses in all the newly regulated online poker markets.
In other news: the APPT will return to Cebu to wrap up its 5th season there. The Cebu Main Event will be hosted by the Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino and it will take place between April 24 and 30. The buy-in will be PHP 100k. The Main Event will come accompanied by a bunch of side events. PokerStars’ own Vivian Im was the one who won the Cebu event last year, beating out 236 players for the title. She will be back this year to mount a title defense.
In still other news: Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan has rejected a motion to dismiss all charges by John Campos and Chad Eli in the Black Friday indictment case. The basis of the Judge’s decision was “lack of proof”.
