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NUTS ABOUT TOURISM, SAYS POKER ENTREPRENEUR

Poker league moves into tourism market

2008-01-29

Poker league moves into tourism market

Brit poker entrepreneur and Nuts Poker League founder, Steve Bellis has teamed up with a travel business in Holywell, UK to offer poker holidays, with this year's first party of poker players scheduled to travel to the Sands Beach Resort in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote in June.

Bellis said: "We went out there last year with 50 players and it was a great success. A lot of places have karaoke and bingo but there are lots of people who want to play poker. [Arising from that] we had a meeting with TR4 Travel in Holywell and discussed the possibility of taking 120 people."

Steve noticed a gap in the market when he did some research on the Internet. "We did an internet search for poker holidays and most of them are in Las Vegas and are very serious," he said.

"We wanted to offer something that was a bit closer to home, more relaxed and less expensive."

The idea is that families can also go along for a break as there are an abundance of other things to do at the resort.

The Bellis path to business success has not always run as smoothly as the current venture, however. Just as his pub poker league was taking off following his appearance on a reality TV show two years ago, the English entrepreneur faced a legal battle with the local constabulary, who issued letters to pubs in the area, claiming that the pub poker league concept was illegal.

Bellis argued successfully that the laws only applied to playing poker for money, whereas his league is based on a points system, and the police had to withdraw the cautionaries. Since then the Nuts Poker League has gone from strength to strength.

"The business is going through the roof and at the moment," says Bellis. "We have people playing from Cornwall all the way up to Scotland. It's growing by the day."

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