PokerWorks

The first ever Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) is scheduled for a 2008 launch and will make stops in eight countries. This will be the first series of poker tournaments to focus specifically on Latin America.

While exact dates for the LAPT have yet to be announced, the countries to be included in the tour include Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. The season will culminate in a Tournament of Champions that will result in one player being named the top player in all of Latin America.

The press release states that each tournament will be structured as invitational events, though players from anywhere in the world will have opportunities to qualify for seats online and through local satellite tournaments.

Vega Promotional Systems, Inc. is the company behind the LAPT and will executive produce the tour, as it will be filmed for airing on television at a later date. Vega will own 100% of the programming and is said to currently be in negotiations with various cable providers for a programming contract.

“This is a very exciting announcement,” said Michael Herron, CEO of Vega. “No limit Texas hold’em has really taken off in Latin America and we felt the time was right for this type of tour. We’ve all seen the success that other tours like the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour have enjoyed and we feel that by utilizing our existing contacts in Latin America, we can produce a first class tournament that players from all over the world, not just from Latin America, will want to participate in.”

Herron continued, “Unlike a lot of poker programming you see on television, we are not attempting to see the rights to a programmer, we will own the programming and plan to contract for the necessary time slots to air the one-hour shows. This will allow Vega to profit from the advertising, sponsorships, and replays of the programs.”

Vega is a publicly-traded company located in the United Kingdom and recently acquired the rights to software that will allow it to run the Vega Gaming System. The software will reportedly allow various online gaming sites to run on Vega’s program as a skin at a relatively reasonable price. This is the same company that promotes the All In Energy Drink.