The online poker market in India is about to grow by one as Raj Kundra and his wife Shilpa Shetty continue their love affair with the game with the intention to open an online poker room.
Say what you want about Raj Kundra, he doesn’t give up, quickly.
In 2016, the Viaan Industries founder intended to launch an online poker room where punters could compete with the likes of Shane Warne, Minissha Lamba, and Shetty herself.
The idea of Celebrity Games lasted as long as a Bonzai tree in a teenagers’ bedroom.
“Unfortunately it {Celebrity Games} did not work out as partners had mixed views on how it should be run,” Kundra told Glaws.in. “Guess there is always the right time for the right project.”
Two years on and he thinks he’s found the ‘right project’.
In May 2017, KPMG and Google in India took a look at the gaming industry in the second most populous nation in the world and found a country that would bear some seriously juicy fruit if you found some fertile land and started sowing seeds.
At that time, the Indian online gaming market stood at $290m, with 120 million gamers, and the researchers expected those figures to rise to $1bn and 190 million by the year 2021, and the primary reason for the explosion – cheap smartphones.
India already has the second highest number of mobile phone users in the world (375m versus China’s 983m), but the report suggested that number would rise to 470m in 2021.
And this is why Kundra won’t let go of his bone.
Poker Raj
After two relatively successful seasons of the Match Indian Poker League (Match IPL), Kundra is moving away from the support system of the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP), to move into the online realm.
According to India’s top gaming website, Glaws.in, Kundra and Shetty are set to launch an online poker room called Poker Raj. It should be up and running by the time you’ve read this (Sep 16) with a desktop and mobile version immediately available for play.
The genius behind the screen is Salus Technologies, and players can get involved in both cash games and tournaments, with a series of freerolls running between Sep 16 & 30, where punters can win $14,000 in free money.
Talking to Glaws.in about the project, Kundra said, “Poker Raj is something we’ve been developing over the years and are now finally ready to launch one of the best poker experiences India has ever seen.”
In April, Kundra also announced plans to launch the Online Team Poker League (OTPL), but like Celebrity Games, that project seems to have also gone the same way as a rockstars’ liver.
