UltimateBet in major mainstream TV deal

UltimateBet in major mainstream TV deal Canadian poker site UltimateBet has signed a deal with US TV channel Fox Sports to sponsor a live poker tournament broadcast over five weekends in June. And crucially for UltimateBet, the tournaments players will be derived exclusively from online tournaments hosted by Ultimatebet.net. Players can win a seat in the UltimateBet.net World Internet Poker Championship through a series of freeroll tournaments. And Jim Ryan, chief executive of UltimateBet’s software supplier Excapsa, said it was a massive promotional opportunity for the firm. “This isn’t about a 30-second TV commercial, this is a branded TV show and for two hours each week,” Ryan said. It is the first time UltimateBet has launched a dot net site, which are play-for-fun only sites designed to get aournd US advertisgin restrictions. He also revealed plans for the site to launch an online casino later this year. “Moving towards casinos makes complete sense to me, and it’s not something I had to think hard about,” he said. “This is not low-hanging fruit, this is fruit that is on the ground.” Ultimatebet is owned by Malta-based firm eWorld Holdings, which works closely with its software provider on marketing and development. The original software provider ieLogic was instrumental in founding and running the site, before it sold the technology to Canadian firm Excapsa last year.