GPL Partners with Sina Sports to Expand Into China

The Global Poker League (GPL) reported that it has signed a long-term strategic partnership with China’s leading digital sports media platform, Sina Sports.

Under the terms of the deal, Sina Sports becomes the Official Digital Media Partner of the GPL, and will add a poker channel to its already extensive list of coverage. Both the GPL and Sina Sports are now working together to ensure the vast Chinese audience receives comprehensive localized coverage of the GPL, including streaming of more than 400 hours of GPL events.

A press release by Sina Sports states that the partnership is a landmark deal for poker in China, and that the GPL is not a gambling league, but identifies itself as an eSport, focussing purely on competition and interaction with fans of the franchises.

The GPL already has strong ties with China thanks to GPL President Alex Dreyfus securing funding for the GPL from Beijing-based VC company Ceyuan Capital and Hong Kong’s Head and Shoulders Capital, plus the creation of the Hong Kong Stars franchise, which is captained by Celina Lin.

Plans are afoot for a new GPL franchise during the 2017 season, one based in Mainland China, further enhancing the GPL’s position in the most-populous country in the world.

“The League’s first Asia-based franchise is the Hong Kong Stars, who have loaded their …

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