Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
World Poker Tour Title Sponsor to be PokerStars
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
World Poker Tour Enterprises (WPTE) Incorporated has signed its first international television sponsorship deal for Season Seven of its popular World Poker Tour television series with PokerStars receiving title sponsorship.
WPTE stated that PokerStars would also receive exclusive in-show educational or gaming site and brand integration into all Season Seven ‘original’ episodes, which will feature commentary by Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, airing in Canada, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
In addition, PokerStars and WPTE will collaborate to create ‘localised’ Spanish/Portuguese-language programmes featuring native commentators for territories in Latin America. In the past, WPTE has aired localised productions of its World Poker Tour series in France, Great Britain, the Philippines, South Korea and Macedonia.
“Television sponsorship is an important part of our business so having the biggest company in the poker industry jump on board is an exciting way to start international distribution of Season Seven,” said Steve Lipscomb, Chief Executive Officer for WPTE.
“We look forward to working with PokerStars as we roll out the latest World Poker Tour programming to fans in these territories.”
Categories: Marketing, Payment Processing
City of Dreams will become a reality, June 1
Monday, May 11th, 2009
In early May, City of Dreams announced it will open on June 1. City of Dreams is an integrated entertainment resort set to become the “must experience” destination in Macau. It is being developed by Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (Nasdaq: MPEL) (”Melco Crown Entertainment”), an entertainment company listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
“Our goal with City of Dreams, our flagship development in Macau, has been to set a new standard of gaming and entertainment experience in Asia. I believe that we will achieve this goal,” said Lawrence Ho, Co-Chairman and CEO of Melco Crown Entertainment.
“City of Dreams is a ‘must experience’ next generation resort like no other in Asia, or perhaps the world, comprising distinctly branded casino floors, three separate world-class hotels, a unique shopping precinct The Boulevard which wraps around the casino floors and links the three hotel towers, and an awe-inspiring fully immersive multimedia show housed in the unique theater, The Bubble.”
“The opening of City of Dreams represents a culmination of nearly five years of planning and development. As our flagship property, it represents a major step forward in Macau’s transformation as the region’s premiere leisure, entertainment, and gaming destination,” he said.
“In addition to creating close to 7,000 job opportunities in Macau and providing career advancement opportunities throughout our organization, we have been able to deliver on our commitment to the employees of Altira Macau by returning them to normalized work schedules. As a people-centric organization with deep roots in Macau, we remain committed to grooming our employees and to having more than 50 percent of our core management positions held by local Macau people by the end of 2011.”
“With the opening of City of Dreams, I believe Melco Crown Entertainment is in the best position to thrive and add value to our stakeholders and the Macau community.”
The initial opening phase of City of Dreams will feature a 420,000-square-foot casino, a diverse range of accommodations including approximately 300 guest rooms Crown Towers offering unrivaled levels of personalized service, lavish style and uncompromising sophistication. The exciting music-inspired Hard Rock Hotel is a vibrant hospitality option of electrifying music themes and memorabilia, with approximately 300 guest rooms. Over 20 restaurants and bars, an impressive array of some of the world’s most sought-after retail brands within the unique lifestyle precinct The Boulevard is operated by leading travel retailer DFS; and the spectacular, one of its kind, audio visual multimedia extravaganza, Dragon’s Treasure, featured in the iconic dome-shaped The Bubble theatre.
“The opening of City of Dreams on June 1, will represent the only large-scale entertainment resort to open its doors in Macau this year,” said Greg Hawkins, President of City of Dreams. “Diversity is the key to City of Dreams. It is diverse by the nature of its dynamic mix of dining, shopping, leisure and entertainment offerings which are all quite unique. What we offer from Crown, to Hard Rock, to The Bubble experience, and in later stages Grand Hyatt Macau and Dragone, is distinct and different both to each other and to anything else in Macau.”
“This exciting project has also provided an abundance of jobs and outstanding career opportunities to the Macau people. City of Dreams will generate a diverse range of travel, food and beverage, leisure and entertainment industry related careers, essential for the long-term growth of Macau.”
“By appealing to a wide-array of travelers with the complete set of dining, shopping, leisure and entertainment offerings, City of Dreams is helping to reposition Macau as the leisure and entertainment epicenter of Asia.”
The impressive launch of City of Dreams on June 1 will be followed by opening of Grand Hyatt Macau and the highly anticipated Dragone show. Grand Hyatt Macau offering approximately 800 guest rooms will be completed in the third quarter of 2009 and the Dragone inspired theatre production will open in the purpose-built Theatre of Dreams soon thereafter. The final planned phase of development at City of Dreams will feature a luxury apartment hotel consisting of approximately 800 units.
Mr Ho said celebrations to be held in conjunction with the Grand Opening of City of Dreams will be announced shortly. - PRNewwire-Asia
Categories: Breaking News, Marketing
Finnish ban on gaming marketing expected
Friday, May 8th, 2009Finland is debating a countrywide ban on all gambling marketing which is expected to pass as early as the autumn. The ban would outlaw “indirect advertising and other sales promotion activities”, including all sponsorship in exchange for the display of a brand’s logo. This would prevent gaming operators from sponsoring sports event or players, and from branding media such as beer mats or taxi cabs, even when no direct enticement to gamble is made.
Finland’s national gambling market is said to be worth €2.2bn annually. The value of the overall market, which includes illegal betting with online operators, is unknown, although 41 % of Finns are understood to gamble on a weekly basis.
The legislation is being debated by the Finnish parliament and is expected to pass due to the widespread support in Finland for the country’s prohibitive gaming regulation. According to a survey in June 2008 by Veikkaus Oy, Finland’s state monopoly for betting and lottery, almost 82% of Finns support the present monopoly system.
The ban is being proposed in response to EU pressure to rectify Finland’s position on the legality of its monopolies, and would affect both foreign operators and local gaming monopolies, including Veikkaus Oy; RAY, which operates casinos; and Finntoto, which runs horse betting.
Despite challenges from the likes of Ladbrokes and Paf, the gambling company of Finland’s semi-autonomous Åland islands, Finnish courts have so far held that the monopolies do not violate EU law. However, the EU Commission filed an official complaint against Finland’s gambling regime in 2006 which is still pending.
In rejecting an application by Ladbrokes for a local license in May 2007, the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court also noted that Veikkaus Oy’s marketing activities are “not without problems” under EU law, which provides that states may only market their monopolies to direct the inevitable demand for gambling toward the national operator, not to increase the overall demand for gambling. However the Court concluded that Veikkaus Oy’s ”problematic” behaviour can be remedied by amending the marketing regulations, leading the Finnish parliament to act.
Pekka Takki, a gaming lawyer at the Helsinki office of law firm Bird & Bird, said: “In my opinion the present Finnish model can’t hold. But political opinion and public opinion here are always in support of the monopoly.”
Categories: Breaking News, Legislation, Marketing
