Indian President To Honor Female Poker ProMuskan Sethi To Receive Honor From Top Government Official |
|
Poker as a game of skill recently received some serious validation in India.
Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, will honor a group of 100 women, including a poker pro, at a ceremony for their achievements in male-dominated fields, per a Hindustan Times report.
Muskan Sethi, a professional player from New Delhi, was singled out for recognition along with other trailblazers that include the first woman from India to reach Antarctica, the first female cadet to join the Indian Army and India’s first woman firefighter.
The event to honor the women will be held sometime next month.
Sethi, who also has a job as a social worker, has about $150,000 in lifetime tournament earnings (online and live). The 28-year-old has been playing poker since around 2010.
Her recognition by the head of the Indian state comes at a time when India has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing poker markets. That’s despite a patchwork of laws surrounding the activity, similar to how the game is viewed legally in the United States.
According to a Bloomberg report, India has some 1.2 billion mobile users, making it an extremely attractive market for online gaming companies. The online casino industry there could be worth $1 billion within five years.
“It’s a booming country,” said Rafi Ashkenazi, CEO of PokerStars’ parent. “We want to be there in time and we want to make sure that we are…the market leader when it comes to poker.”
Ashkenazi made the comments this summer when the online poker giant was announcing that it was planning to launch a product in India by the end of the year.
PokerStars’ plans follow a similar move by the World Poker Tour, another major brand in the poker tournament world. Adam Pliska, President and CEO of the WPT, said in 2016 that India is “one of the fastest growing [poker] markets worldwide.”
In an interview with India Today, Sethi admitted that India still doesn’t view poker as highly as other countries in the word, but still the game “is fast growing” and more internet poker sites are “coming up on a daily basis to promote” the game.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
