PokerStars Partners with Furia to Engage Latin American eSports Community

November 4th, 2020 | by Jason Reynolds

PokerStars has strengthened its long-standing ties with the eSports world by launching a new collaboration with Team Furia.

PokerStars has joined forces with Team Furia to engage new customers in the Latin American eSports community. (Image: The Esports Observer)

The Brazilian eSports team is best known for its exploits in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive arena. However, as part of its new deal with PokerStars, it will engage in a variety of online competitions, activities, and promotions to exploit the links between poker and eSports.

PokerStars’ Brazilian ambassadors, André Akkari and Lali Tournier, will lead the Twitch and social media-based initiatives.

PokerStars Digs Further into eSports Market

The nuances of the deal are yet to be finalized. However, PokerStars and Furia will embark on a series of campaigns designed to show the crossovers between poker and eSports.

“Poker plays a natural part in Furia’s DNA. It’s all about making optimal decisions in the moment for long-term results. The partnership is a natural step for expansion as we look to move beyond eSports,” Akkari said in a November 3 press release.

Making moves in the gaming sector is nothing new for PokerStars. This time, however, the origins of Team Furia are significant.

PokerStars began forging links with the eSports community in 2006 by signing Bertrand Grospellier, aka ElkY (now with GGPoker). It doubled down a few years later by recruiting Randy Lew (nanonoko) before becoming the official sponsor of Team Liquid.

The collaboration with Furia will follow these trends. However, it will mainly target gamers in Central and South America.

Cracking Latin American Market

With 240,000+ Twitter followers and 140,000+ Twitch subscribers, Team Furia has an international reputation. However, its members, including founder Jaime Pádua, will be best-known to those in countries like Brazil.

This is important given the size of the Central and South American poker and eSports markets. Otherwise known as Latin America, the region is home to 652 million people and approximately 260 million gamers.

As it stands, rules and regulations vary between Latin American countries. However, it’s a market that online poker operators have been targeting for the best part of a decade.

PokerStars has a strong reputation in the region, but competition is mounting; particularly with GGPoker signing Felipe Ramos at the start of 2020.

Indeed, if there’s one operator that’s taken advantage of COVID-19 restrictions, it’s GGPoker. Executives at PokerStars will have noticed this, which suggests the latest partnership is a power play.

By working with one of Brazil’s leading eSports teams, it now has the opportunity to reach new demographics, not just in gaming but across Central and South America.