The poker promotion brand of Suncity Group – Poker King Club (PKC) – is partnering World Poker Tour (WPT) to hold the WPT tournament in Jeju, Korea this coming September, the company announced yesterday.
The event will be held with Suncity’s local partner in Korea, Paradise Casino Jeju Grand – operated by Paradise Company Limited – from September 24 to 30, with a guaranteed prize pool of ₩200 million (US$175,610/MOP1.45 million).
PKC is also launching its own tournament series – the Suncity Cup – on day one of WPT Korea, with the company claiming it is its ‘biggest tournament ever.’
The CEO of PKC, Winfred Wu, was quoted in a press release as saying that “The group has been working to further extend its reach to players in northern China as well as Japan, as we feel these events in Korea are perfect for attracting those audiences.”
Speaking to Business Daily, Carlos Machado, Vice President, Agency Operations of Hogo, the marketing partner of PKC, said the company “is indeed focused on these two major markets, China and Japan, but also has other operations in Manila and Korea.”
Focusing on players from outside Korea may be explained by the fact that Paradise Casino Jeju is a foreigners-only casino operation.
Machado further explained that PKC “does not cater specifically to VIP clients,” with several types of poker games and different buy-in ranges offered in its clubs.
PKC was founded in 2009 and is owned and operated by Kings Consulting, a business of Suncity Group.
It currently has three poker rooms to its name – one in Macau, located at the gaming floor of The Venetian, one in Manila at the Solaire Resort and Casino Manila, and one in Korea in Maison Glad Hotel Jeju.
The club claims it has organised more than 40 tournaments in different branches in Asia.
Suncity apps
The VIP junket operator also announced this week that it has launched a mobile phone application that enables VIP clients to keep track of their account information, earnings history, and rolling chip activities, GGRAsia reported yesterday.
A spokesperson for the group told Business Daily that the app had been developed by the company’s own Information Technology department and launched last week.
Named ‘Sun Finance,’ the app was created to offer secure account verification for clients, according to comments by the Vice President of the company’s IT operations, Celestino Ali, the same media said.
It was also reported that the company plans to create within the new app an embedded link to another app, called ‘Sun Travel,’ which will allow Suncity to promote the group’s products and services via the identification of travel spending patters of clients, the VP was referred to as saying.
