Mediarex Secures $4.9m To Sportify Poker
Mediarex Sports & Entertainment (MSE), the parent company behind poker’s ranking authority, the Global Poker Index (GPI), has secured $ 4.9m in Series A funding from a round of private investors in its bid to sportify poker.
According to the company, the investment will enable MSE to lay down the framework to develop the sport of poker by aggregating the game’s fragmented audience – which number 100 million+ around the world.
MSE CEO Alex Dreyfus explained: “Poker is an old game, but a young industry. It’s a game that continues to grow too. Poker’s global growth from 2012 and 2013 was 17%, as well as a 9.4% increase in 2014 live competition entries. Digital interest in the game continues to grow as well – up 12% in 2013, 25% in 2014 and 31% in the first half of 2015. It’s a large audience and the best way to aggregate it is to promote Poker like a sport.”
GPI currently controls the largest live poker event and player results database, www.thehendonmob.com, as well as the European Poker Awards, the American Poker Awards and both ceremonies’ adjacent Poker Conferences, planning to introduce the Asian Poker Awards in 2016 as well.
As part of the plan, GPI will launch the Global Poker League (GPL), labelled poker’s first professional league, in early 2016 in the U.S. and European markets.
One of MSE’s most important developing assets, GPL builds on the success of GPI’s first ever live poker competition, the Global Poker Masters – Poker’s World Cup – which enjoyed a successful rollout to nearly one million unique viewers in March 2015.
Dreyfus continued: “China will likely be the epicentre of the next Poker boom and this time the boom looks to be powered by eSports, the video game, media and sports industries. Thanks to our new investors we’ll be able to reach new strategic partnerships in China to help develop the sport of Poker there, creating a domino effect that has globally positive effects.”
As a poker player ranking authority MSE’s Global Poker Index is the official ranking system for Poker’s largest franchises such as the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the European Poker Tour (EPT) and Asia-Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) among dozens of other tours and Poker festivals around the world.
GPI’s distribution network brings poker content to niche audiences and the mainstream public as well via media partnerships with SportingNews, Twitch, USAToday and CineSport among others.
