Rank Group Plc owner of the Grosvener United Kingdom Poker Tour, finally rubber-stamped a deal to purchase 19 land-based casinos and three non-operating licenses from their competitors Gala Coral.
The deal, worth £179 million, means that Rank now boasts 54 casinos and 12 non-operating licenses in their UK brick-and-mortar portfolio.
After the addition of the Gala Coral casinos, Ian Burke, Chairman and CEO of Rank, declared his intention to roll out its ‘G Casino’ format in a further eight cities.
This is good news for the GUKPT, which is currently competing with Genting Poker Series and PokerStars.com's UKIPT.
But the discussions in the boardroom didn't stop the action on the felt. GUKPT stalwart Martin Bader lifted the trophy at the first GUKPT event of the 2013 calendar when he defeated 396 other players on his way to the £56,000 first-prize in London recently.
Online starlet, Marc ‘dean23price’ Wright, took fifth and Marvin Rettenmaier stumbled out in 16th.
