Andre Akkari Brings eSports and Poker Together as Industry Revels in Good News – HighstakesDB

The big stories of the week in industry news involve poker and eSports partnerships, big jackpot freerolls in Vegas, Macau finally showing signs of recovery and online poker yet again posting positive results!

By: Andrew Burnett

It has been a week of generally good news, but lets kick off with a mixed review, some $120k being handed out on the Vegas Strip, with the MGM Grand at the center of it all.

Up for grabs is the unused jackpot money from three MGM casinos, the Mandalay Bay, Excalibur and Mirage, but the bad news is that the trio of poker rooms have been permanently closed.

Because the jackpot money has to be given back to the players since it was paid in extra rake for jackpot purposes the MGM Grand has decided to host three freeroll tournaments.

Brazilian poker and eSports superstar Andre Akkariadded to his PokerStars team pro and ambassador status with the news that his eSports team Furia has entered into a partnership with the red spade site.

The plan, utilising Akkaris experience and skill across both formats, is to produce unique entertainment content, with the partnership due to unveil a new team of poker streamers. Alongside Akkari himself, the team will include Lali Tournier and Rafa Moraes.

Furia was formed in 2017 by Akkaris Brazilian colleague Jaime raizen Pdua, the team based in the US and the team specialising in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).

Akkari said of the new venture: Poker plays a natural part in Furias DNA. Its all about making optimal decisions in the moment for long-term results. The partnership is a natural step for expansion as we look to move beyond eSports.

For PokerStars, Rebecca McAdam Willetts, Associate Director of Public Relations said: The team at Furia work very hard, lead by example, and are always looking to improve and evolve. This approach, as well as their general ethos, sits extremely well with what we aim for at PokerStars. It will be exciting for us to see what we can bring our community and how we can engage new audiences by working together with such a passionate team.

Its been a tough year so far for many places, and Macau has been among the worst hit financially by the global coronavirus pandemic, 90 percent drops in revenue almost every month so faruntil now that is.

Figures for October show that $910million was pulled in, which is only a 72.5% year-on-year drop and hints that things may be looking up for the former Portuguese colony.

Bloomberg have reported that a relaxation in Chinas travel and visa restrictions may be behind the unexpected boost in numbers, which has seen high-spending customers among the first to return.

Joe Liu, director of the citys largest e-payment company Macau Pass S.A., quoted as saying: They shop and eat crazily.

That matches Las Vegas Sands Corp COO Grant Chum, who told Bloomberg last month: The patrons returning first to Macau are the high-quality, high-frequency customers.

The Macau industry still faces a long road to full recovery, however, with revenue in the 10 months through October falling 81.4% compared to last years figures.

The online game in Europe has seen a dramatic rise during lockdown, some operators growth numbers up by double or even triple figures according to recent reports.

GGPoker top the list with a staggering 208% growth in the past year, followed by the iPoker network at 62% and then partypoker at 30%, according to PokerFuse reports, based on GamingIntel data.

Their list of Year-over-Year Growth reveals:

GGPoker Up 208%

iPoker Up 62%

partypoker Up 30%

Unibet Up 11%

PokerStars Up 7%

888poker Up 2%

They also report that the most recent cash game traffic in segregated markets within Europe show huge rises, Italy up by 18% and the France/Spain/Portugal trio at almost 30%.

With new lockdowns in place across Europe and the winter season almost upon us, a new or extended boom for online poker may well be on the cards.

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Andre Akkari Brings eSports and Poker Together as Industry Revels in Good News - HighstakesDB