Chinese firm buys World Poker Tour

The World Poker Tour as been acquired by a Chinese-based social gaming company for $35 million.

The all-cash transaction was announced Sunday in which Ourgame International Holdings Ltd. will purchase the World Poker Tour from Gibraltar-based Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. World Poker Tour is known for its internationally televised events and land-based tournaments.

Bwin.Party has owned World Poker Tour since 2009. Last year, Ourgame agreed to license World Poker Tour products and services on an exclusive basis in more than a dozen countries across Asia.

“Having already established an exciting partnership with Ourgame, we are delighted to now become a fully-integrated member of the Ourgame family,” World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska and in a statement.

Ourgame CEO Frank Ng said the company will look to expand World Poker Tour “around the world via television broadcasts, mobile devices, card tables, and more.”

Since 2009, World Poker Tour has grown from 16 events to more than 70.

Ourgame is headquartered in Beijing and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Ourgame has expanded the social gaming market in Asia.

“Ourgame is a $700 million valuation company, with no capital problem,” Alexandre Dreyfus, who oversees the Global Poker Index, wrote on his blog Sunday night. “They can invest into World Poker Tour and develop a strong (social gaming) offer. While we are waiting online poker, as we know it, to be regulated in U.S., something is getting ready in Asia. That’s where the next poker wave could come from.”

Gaming figure Lyle Berman created the World Poker Tour as competition to the World Series of Poker.