- Guaranteed Rate has been announced as the presenting sponsor of the PokerGO Tour.
- Guaranteed Rate is one of the top five retail mortgage lenders in the Untied States.
- This is the inaugural season for the PokerGO Tour.
While most of the recent news involving mainstream corporate sponsorship has been in the sports betting realm there is still plenty of interest in other segments of the gaming industry. Poker might not be considered as mainstream trendy as it once was but there’s still a vibrant competitive scene both online and (COVID-19 permitting) in live play. In addition to the usual gaming related sponsors there’s growing interest among non-gaming businesses to get involved. One recent example–US retail mortgage lender Guaranteed Rate has signed on as the presenting sponsor of the PokerGO Tour.
PokerGO is a poker content company that has found a niche by providing wall to wall coverage of poker tournaments and other related programming. The PokerGO platform delivers more than 100 days of live poker annually including the World Series of Poker final tables. They also offer an ‘on demand’ library with original content such as High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark. They also curate a library of video programming including history, commentary and strategy along with interviews with top poker stars.
The Guaranteed Rate Companies include Guaranteed Rate–the new naming sponsor for the PokerGO Tour. Guaranteed Rate is one of the top five retail mortgage lenders in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the Guaranteed Rate Companies funded over $73 billion USD in 2020 and have more than 10,000 employees in over 850 offices across the US.
The PokerGO Tour is in its inaugural season. Here’s how the press release announcing the new sponsorship deal outlines the series:
Currently in its inaugural season, the PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate strives to celebrate the game’s elite professional players as they compete within a ranking system similar to the world’s most renowned professional sports. The PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate features the industry’s most high-profile poker tournaments with buy-ins of $10,000 or greater and includes more than 100 tournaments across the globe. Among the tour’s most prestigious offerings are PokerGO’s owned and operated brands such as the Poker Masters, U.S. Poker Open, PokerGO Cup and ultra high-stakes Super High Roller Bowl.
Through July 2021, the inaugural season of the PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate awarded more than $50 million in prize money from more than 3,700 total entries. Conservative estimates project those figures to quadruple over the remainder of 2021.
At the end of the PokerGO Tour season the top performer will earn Player of the Year honors and be awarded a $200,000 USD top prize. They’ll also have their name engraved on the Guaranteed Rate Cup. Second and third place finishers will receive $100k and $50k respectively. Leaderboard points are earned based on finishing position in qualifying events.
Guaranteed Rate Chief Marketing Officer Steve Moffat is pleased to have his company’s name associated with the world of competitive poker:
“Guaranteed Rate is proud to partner with the PokerGO Tour featuring some of the best poker players in the world. And having the Player of the Year’s name engraved on the Guaranteed Rate Cup will be an incredible way to connect our brand to a game so many millions around the world play and love.”
Mori Eskandani, President of PokerGO, is likewise happy to bring on a well known mainstream sponsor:
“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Guaranteed Rate not only to the PokerGO family, but also to the entire poker community. The PGT aims to showcase the game’s biggest talent competing in the most exclusive events, and the partnership with Guaranteed Rate represents a joint commitment to both raise exposure and provide new opportunities for the game.”
The deal between PokerGO and Guaranteed Rate was negotiated by consulting firm Aggregate Sports.
