The Hippodrome Casino, London, announced on Tuesday the appointment of George Constantinou as Director of Online Operations.
The move comes ahead of the partnership with PokerStars, who recently struck a deal with the Leicester Square casino to purchase a minority stake in the Hippodrome and launch a PokerStars-branded poker room both online and live.
Hippodromecasino.com, expected to launch next month, will initially include Microgaming’s online casino games, which will be operated by Betway Group. PokerStars will operate the online poker side.
Constantinou, previously at pokerroom.com and Serious Trivia, will oversee the launch of the new web presence, as well as “developing the Hippodrome’s affiliate network” and exploring “further partnerships and media relationships,” according to today’s press release.
PokerStars will refurbish and upgrade the existing poker room in the Hippodrome, and plans to host scheduled tournaments and events promoted to its 50m online customers.
It marks the first PokerStars-branded brick and mortar poker room in Europe. Its only previous interest in land-based gaming is a partnership with Macau casino Grand Waldo. It was also revealed last week PokerStars is in “advanced talks” to buy a New Jersey casino.
In October, Guy Templer, Group Strategy Director for PokerStars, told pokerfuse that the group planned to offer “the same great poker experience, live 24/7 in the heart of London,” and they were “looking forward to unveiling some great new live events for the UK poker market in 2013.”
