Olympic Poker
The UK’s CircusCasino.co.uk, a subsidiary of the Mansion Group, has launched an initiative that would propel poker online to Olympic status by including a poker demonstration game in the 2012 Olympics and then staging a real poker tournament event in the 2016 games. Circus Casino is lobbying hard to get the Olympic organizers to add the poker demonstration in 2012 based on the argument that poker is a well established game that is played and watched by millions of people around the world. In some countries, poker is actually classified as a sport. The game has true global appeal and is one considered to be the fastest growing sport in the world today. The decision is still up in the air. If a demonstration poker tournament is allowed in 2012, then the organizers will also have to decide whether to differentiate between online and live table games as it does for some other sports such as indoor vs. beach volleyball. If online poker is included, then participants could literally log in from anywhere on the globe to play in the event. This would be especially advantageous to players who for one reason or another, be it political or financial, cannot travel to the actual Olympic games, and would be a groundbreaking event for the Olympics.
