PokerStars May Return to Macau at Studio City For Macau Poker Cup

On the lookout for a new venue in Macau since its breakaway with the City of Dreams Macau poker room in May this year, PokerStars may have finally found one. Studio City Hotel and Casino Resort is likely to be the new home for PokerStars’ upcoming Macau Poker Cup (MCP) tournament series.

High stakes poker player and Chairman of PokerStars’ current Asian partner, International Entertainment Corporation (IEC) Stanley Choi recently stated that the company is “likely” to use Studio City for the upcoming MPC. The chief attraction of the series is the Red Dragon and participation is expected to overshoot previous years’ numbers.

Located in Cotai, Macau, Studio City is a luxurious entertainment resort with an opulent casino. The news comes as a heartening development in midst of the recent closure of several old and prominent poker rooms in Macau, attributed to China’s ban on all forms of online poker and poker advertising on social media, in April.

Back in May, PokerStars had announced that its five year business equation with the City of Dreams Macau poker room was coming to an end. The casino had hosted some of the biggest PokerStars live tournaments in Macau, including the MPC, APPT Macau, Macau Millions and the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP).

The move was surmised as being the direct effect of the Chinese poker ban that put a dark cloud of doubt over the future of gaming and live poker in Macau. Simultaneously, the City of Dreams Macau and the Galaxy Macau casinos permanently shut down their operations.

Soon thereafter, two key members of the PokerStars Asia Pacific team, Fred Leung and Mark Blake, announced their departure from the company.

Right on the heels of its departure from City of Dreams Macau, PokerStars announced that it had entered business collaboration with the Chinese hotel, casino and entertainment group, IEC to expand its Asian ventures. In effect, IEC was to oversee PokerStars’ live poker operations in Asia.

With the IEC giving a strong indication on where the MPC may be hosted, Studio City could well become the next live destination hub for PokerStars to host their marquee Asian tournaments.

Keep following the latest developments of this story right here on PokerGuru!

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