Poker King Cup Cancelled Temporarily By DICJ

The popular Poker King Club in Macau was scheduled to host its Poker King Cup Macau from March 15 – 21 and poker players from all over the world were scheduled to participate. However, the promoter has had to cancel the poker tournament.

A total of 14 events had been slated for the now-cancelled tournament, including a HKD16,500 Main Event, as well as a super high roller event with a buy-in of HKD200,000.

Plans for a 2019 edition of the Poker King Cup Macau have been temporarily dropped due to “unforeseen circumstances”. While no specific reason was given for the cancellation, it’s now understood the tournament may not have been granted approval by the local regulator. The tournament series was supposed to be held in the 5-star Venetian Macao resort. Poker King Club will issue partial refunds on a number of hotel bookings and air tickets made by players.

Poker King Club

 

According to industry sources, this is not the first time that the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), the local regulator in Macau has refused to give permission to locally-held poker tournaments. Sadly, the cancellations were not announced in advance and only made public as the scheduled date approached putting both tournament organizers and players at a disadvantage. It is normal practice for organizers to finalize tournament arrangements in advance in the assumption that approval will be issued by the city’s authorities.

New Regulatory Restrictions

While there are reports and speculation that the 2019 edition of the tournament could be abandoned permanently, Poker King Club president Winfred Yu played down such talk. Yu said approval has not been granted as early as expected and hence they had to cancel. As of now, they are still awaiting further guidance and instructions from the DICJ.

Yu also said the local regulator might have imposed new regulatory requirements for poker tournaments and they are currently in talks with the relevant parties to try to understand what exactly is going on.

Poker King Club is not licensed in Macau and acts as a third-party promoter, via the Macau-licensed Sands China Ltd – owner of the Venetian Macao resort and casino. Thus, the poker brand is not authorized to negotiate directly with the DICJ.

The promoter is part of the Macau junket investor Suncity Group. The poker brand operates three rooms located at three casinos, namely the Poker King Club Macau at Venetian Macao, Poker King Club Korea at Maison Glad Hotel Jeju in South Korea, and Poker King Club Manila at Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila, Philippines.