Heartland Poker Tour Acquired By Federated Sports And Gaming

The Heartland Poker Tour has just received an extra boost to its recognition in the poker world after its purchase by Federated Sports And Gaming was announced recently.
The Heartland Poker Tour was established in 2005 and specialises in running affordable buy-in poker tournaments across the USA, as well as satellites to many top events.
It is also one of the biggest producers of poker content for TV with its seventh season currently playing in over 100 million American homes each week, as well as reaching overseas markets throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
Federated Sports and Gaming was started last year by former WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and soon after announced the formation of a Federated Poker League, with a list of 218 eligible players qualifying for the inaugural 2011-2012 season.
Now with the partnership of the two organisations, co-founder of Heartland Poker Tour Greg Lang said he was looking forward to growing and becoming a leading innovator in the poker market.
At this moment in time it is unclear how exactly the two tours will work in unison, but exploring his vision for the future of the business, Jeffrey Pollack from Federated Sports and Gaming explained:
“HPT will be a satellite channel for our Pro-AM events. I wouldn’t be surprised if the winners of HPT events end up earning seats in our Pro-AM events, but we haven’t figured all that out yet. That’s a possibility, and then again the HPT tournaments with a $1,500 buy-in our higher count toward qualification in the pro league. This is about Federated providing a complete poker offering that includes the pros, but also developmental and amateur players.”
In the seven seasons the HPT has been running, the tour has staged almost 90 events with over 81,500 players joining in on the action. In addition, around $28.6 million in prize money has been awarded during that time with more than 170 hours of quality poker television produced as a result.