World Poker Tour Plans to Bring Poker Back to Macau

The World Poker Tour (WPT), an international gaming and entertainment TV attraction, is looking to include Asian gambling hub Macau in its schedule of poker tournaments for the forthcoming period. The brand’s CEO Adam Pliska told Inside Asian Gaming that the WPT is “very eager to go there”.

Looking to Arrange a WPT Macau in 2024:

As reported by Inside Asian Gaming (IAG), Pliska said that he plans to visit Macau early in 2024. His visit would be in line with the WPT’s strategy to continuously explore places that may be suitable to host the iconic tournament series. Pliska reportedly said: “I continue to look to that. We’ve been very eager to go there.”

Since the 2002 launch, the WPT has toured the world a number of times to feature a series of legendary players and bring a unique entertainment to millions of TV spectators from all continents. On the other hand, Macau reportedly hosted the most recent poker tournament in the pre-pandemic 2018, when City of Dreams arranged the PokerStars Live room. In 2022, when Macau casinos got back on track, the concessionaire MGM China launched new poker rooms to be in a position to host the prestigious event.

Challenges:

But IAG reports that the challenges to run large-scale poker events include the Macau SAR’s table cap, the regulation restricting the number of gaming tables to be operated by the concessionaires. According to the source, the measure forced the concessionaires to rather operate lucrative casino games. Also, the consequential handle declines compelled operators to allocate redundant dealer resources.

However, the source reports that the 2018 event Macau Millions held at PokerStars Live just before the venue’s closure attracted a lot of players, with Main Event having been attended by 2,499 players. Therefore it seems that there would be lots of interest for a potential WPT event in the region. Pliska told the source:  “There are some structural issues in Macau that make it difficult, particularly with dealers, but we are dedicated. We will get to Macau. We will work with the government and we’ll work with anyone else to make sure we get a good event.”

Apparent Enthusiasm:

CEO reportedly said that the WPT is increasingly interested in Asia after the company held events across Asia and Oceania in 2023. Later in January 2024, the first-ever WPT Cambodia will be held at Naga World to mark another Asian main tour stop for the brand.  “Anybody who’s played any Asian events realizes that the level of enthusiasm is palpable,” Pliska reportedly said. “I mean, you have events where it can be the morning of Day 1 and people are seated at the table ready to go and eager, and I think it’s because Asia continues to be in its boom.’’

He also told the source: “There is so much poker education and so much great technology out there and Asia has just run with it. You have great opportunities as individual countries have opened up. For a long time, if you think about it, the majority of the large events were not only Western events, they were US-centric events, so to open to a large population who gets it, it’s massively scalable and I just love those Asian events. I love the enthusiasm there.” The enthusiasm is apparent on both sides of the table. The time will tell whether the table will be brought to Macau soon.