888Poker continues to be the leading face of American online poker with the extension of the poker operator’s partnership contract with Poker Central for the third year in a row. Poker Central, which is a renowned online poker content hub made the announcement that their huge sponsorship deal had been extended and expanded to allow 888Poker to be the exclusive in-show sponsor of the Super High Roller Bowl that will take place this spring. Furthermore, 888poker will feature, to a very large extent, during several broadcasts of poker events such as the U.S. Poker Open, the ARIA High Roller Series and Poker Masters throughout 2018. The World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker were among some of the most notable events that were not included in the list even though both have partnered with PokerGO before. At the moment, there is nothing but speculation surrounding the choice to leave out both events but a likely scenario is that both prominent series are basking in lucrative sponsorship deals that have effectively taken them out Poker Central’s league. Still, nothing is certain at this point.
“This is our third consecutive year partnering with 888poker, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have them on board for our growing slate of prestigious events. Together, we’re looking forward to further growing the sport by offering more tournaments that poker fans and professionals alike will enjoy,” Poker Central Vice President, Sam Simmons said after the announcement.
888Poker is also quite excited about the renewal and expansion of the partnership – they are showing it by offering reciprocal opportunities to Poker Central. Some of 888Poker’s broadcasted events are owned by Poker Central – these include Poker Masters and Super High Roller Bowl. 888Poker will now be giving gamblers opportunities to qualify for some of the exclusive tournament events through highly sought-after packages.
All Thanks to NBC?
Poker Central’s renewed contract with 888Poker coincides with another huge reveal. NBC Sports Group will be incorporating more Poker Central programming into its US schedule all through 2018. This further applies to both NBCSN’s linear and digital platforms and the programming partnership will run through to 2020.
All of the three Poker Central events that we mentioned earlier will be covered by all of NBC Sports Group’s online platforms and will be available for streaming on internet-connected TVs, tablets, desktops and mobile devices. Tournament dates and broadcast schedules are set to be officially announced later in the year.
