Pokerstars Sets Up First Legal Norwegian poker Tournament
Monday September 14,2015 : AMAYA SETS UP FIRST LEGAL NORWEGIAN POKER TOURNAMENT
After years of legal hassles, a tournament on home ground.
Norwegian poker fans are rejoicing this week at the news that Amaya Gaming, parent of the Pokerstars online poker enterprise, is organising a home-ground poker tournament after years of holding the tournament "in exile" around the world.
Global Poker Tours Ltd, an Amaya Inc. brand, announced the first legal live poker event to be held in Norway, titled the 2016 Norwegian Championships, which will host five regional championships around the country before completing the series in the nation’s capital, Oslo, with the Championship Main Event.
"The Norwegian Championships has a rich history of “unofficial” events held at overseas locations for the past 13 years, including Dublin, Ireland; Nottingham, England; and Riga, Latvia," a statement from Amaya notes. "These events were always well-attended, so expectations are high for the first event on home soil."
The statement claims that more than 100 players registered for the event on the first day of pre-registrations, showing strong local interest and appetite.
The final number is expected to exceed 2,000, which will be a new record for a closed National Championship, surpassing the last iteration of the Norwegian Championships in Dublin, which had 1,274 players.
Norwegian charity Blodkreftforeningen, which translates to The Leukemia Foundation, specialises in leukemia and bone marrow cancer research, and is the official charity partner of the Norwegian Championships. Five percent of all buy-ins from the regional and Norwegian Championships will be donated to the cause.
The tour, thanks to changes in Norway's gambling legalization last year, will culminate with the Norwegian Championships in Oslo November 18-24.
The buy-in for each of the five Regional Championships will be NOK1,500 (USD$180) and each stop will act as a satellite to the Championship Main Event.
