PokerStars Moves Into Land-Based Casinos

Recently it was announced that PokerStars was looking into buying the Atlantic Club casino in Atlantic City. This, however, was not the first time that the world’s largest online poker site has moved into brick and mortar gambling venues. In October, for instance, PokerStars struck a deal with London’s Hippodrome Casino to open a PokerStars branded room and the online behemoth also has a similar deal in place with the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex in Macau.
Now PokerStars has continued it’s foray into brick and mortar casinos and has reached an agreement with Spain’s Casino Gran Madrid to open a new PokerStars-branded poker room at the casino specializing in tournaments.
The venue is expected to open in early 2013 and commenting on the latest deal, PokerStars Group Head of Business Development, Guy Templer, commented: “Casino Gran Madrid is the premier casino destination in Madrid, which we already work with to host some of the largest and most successful poker tournaments in Spain. Establishing a permanent PokerStars-branded poker room in the casino will give more players the opportunity to play world-class poker with the high-quality player experience that PokerStars is known for.”
The Casino Gran Madrid hosted the 2011 PokerStars EPT Grand Final and the 2012 EPT Madrid and elaborating further on the two companies’ recent arrangement, Deputy General Director at Casino Gran Madrid, Paula Arriaga expressed her intention to create a poker room with “amazing atmosphere.” The room will offer a regular schedule of  tournaments and quarterly special events and adding to the excitement created by the new venue will be special high-roller events and occasional celebrity visits by well-known poker pros. It is also expected to  cater for over 200 players and attract around 20,000 players a year.