According to an article that recently appeared on the UK-based Guardian website, Dennis Publishing will launch “what it claims to be the first ever business-to-business poker magazine.” The new publication is set to debut later this month and will be found under the title Inside Poker Business.
The quarterly magazine will be overseen by Alun Bowden, who also serves as an editor for Inside Poker, a position he has held for the last three years. The new magazine, according to the Guardian, will be completely free “to industry figures internationally.” Featured heavily in the magazine´s first issue will be Jim Ryan, Party Gaming´s CEO. The company, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “PRTY,” just saw its Managing Director, John O´Malia, announce that he will step down at the end of next month. In December, one of Party Gaming´s co-founders, Anurag Dikshit, admitted to violating the Wire Act of 1961 in the United States. Dikshit will hand over a total of $300 million to U.S. authorities and risks two years in prison.
Ryan recently gave an interview to the Financial Times, saying that Party Gaming´s competitive advantage came from the fact that its fleet of sites – PartyPoker, PartyCasino, PartyGammon, PartyBets, PartyMobile, and PartyBingo, – represented a one stop shop for online gaming customers: “One deposit, one account – it’s a one stop shop. That is still the main strategic objective for a number of our competitors and we have it already.”
Dennis Publishing will look to bring its extensive experience in the print magazine industry to the world of poker. The company serves as the publishing arm of Men´s Fitness and Maxim magazines. Some of the top poker magazine titles that currently focus on the consumer include CardPlayer and Atlanta-based Bluff Magazine. Both have representatives traveling to the world´s largest live poker tournaments for coverage. Bluff serves as the media partner of the World Series of Poker and just instilled its Player of the Year honors for 2008 on John “The Razor” Phan. Coming in second on that leader board was Michael Binger, who had 2008 earnings of $1.1 million. Also appearing on the list were David “The Dragon” Pham (third), 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier (fourth), and Men “The Master” Nguyen, who led the way among the top 10 players with 25 qualifying cashes.
The December issue of Inside Poker Magazine included interviews with Irish poker pro Neil Channing as well as David Ulliott, the namesake of Devilfish Poker. We´ll have more details on the launch of Inside Poker Business Magazine as they become available right here on Poker News Daily.