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Tag: Sudhir Kamath

  • Nazara Technologies COO Sudhir Kamath cashes out chips after impressive run

    Nazara Technologies COO Sudhir Kamath cashes out chips after impressive run

    MUMBAI:  In a departure,  that’s sent ripples through India’s gaming industry, Nazara Technologies’ chief operating officer Sudhir Kamath is folding his hand after a two-and-a-half year winning streak.

    The gaming and sports media powerhouse confirmed yesterday that Kamath will step down from his post on 1 April, with the veteran executive citing family reasons for his departure from the Mumbai-based firm’s C-suite. It made this declaration through a regulatory filing with the Bombay stock exchange. 

    “Kamath is exchanging his corporate royal flush for a full house back home,” quipped one industry insider, referencing the executive’s previous life as co-founder and CEO of online poker platform 9stacks, where he dealt cards for over five years before Nazara poached him in October 2022.

    His decision to relocate to his native city marks the end of a diverse career that has seen him play across multiple tables – from McKinsey’s consulting halls and Nigerian oil fields to the competitive word tiles of the Scrabble Association of India, where he spelled out success as president from 2020 to 2022.

    During his tenure at Nazara, Kamath helped the company level up its operational strategy while navigating the increasingly competitive gaming landscape. industry analysts suggest his departure comes at a pivotal moment as India’s gaming sector faces regulatory challenges and fierce competition from international players.

    While Nazara’s managing director Nitish Mittersain and board  has yet to name a successor, the company’s shares remained stable following the announcement, suggesting investors aren’t throwing in their cards just yet. The firm continues to expand its portfolio across esports, gamified learning and mobile gaming.

    For Kamath, who once turned an amazing return as an early investor in fruit exporter INI Farms, this latest move appears less about game over and more about selecting a new avatar closer to home.

  • 9stacks ropes in Suresh Raina as brand ambassador

    9stacks ropes in Suresh Raina as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Online gaming platform 9stacks has signed on cricketer Suresh Raina as their brand ambassador. The partnership will see the cricketer in the brand’s upcoming campaigns and promote 9stacks through various engagement activities.

    To celebrate the deal, the homegrown poker portal has organised the ‘Raina Freeroll Tournament’ on 27 October 2020 at 7 pm. The pool prize money for the tournament is one lakh rupees and the entry is free for all. 

    Raina will anchor the brand with his sports charisma and help in creating a higher brand recall amongst the key target audience.

    9stacks co-founder Sudhir Kamath said, “It’s been a month since we roped Raina as our brand ambassador and we are super delighted to see the response we have received from our users both existing and new ones.”

    Founded by Sudhir Kamath, Pratik Kumar and Rishab Mathur in 2017, 9stacks has emerged as a leading online poker gaming platform. With around 350,000 users, 9stacks currently offers Texas and Omaha variants of poker that engage both experienced players and learners.

  • 9Stacks to organise Women’s Day Tournament

    9Stacks to organise Women’s Day Tournament

    India: 9Stacks, India’s fastest-growing poker platform is conducting a free entry “Women’s Day” Tournament on this Sunday, 8th March 2020. 9Stacks expects to see active participation of 100 women participating in the tournament and fighting out for the prizes out of which 9 Women participants will win INR 1000 each. In order to keep out male users from participating, 9Stacks will do a physical verification call to check players. This would be a one-time call and once the woman participant has been tagged, she can participate in all women-only tournaments that 9Stacks would conduct.

    9Stacks founder Sudhir Kamath says “We have always had a view that many more women should be part of the Indian poker segment. In fact, our very first live sponsorship was for a team of 9 women players at a Deltin Poker Tour live event in Goa. We followed that up with a number of women-only tournaments that we have conducted over the last two years. A number of women players were introduced to online poker via those events, and some of them soon became regulars at our other tournaments as well, and we hope their numbers will continue to rise”.

    One can play the tournament from any corner of the world, via laptop or mobile. “Is it a compulsion, is it a challenge, is it a distraction or is it all about the moolah? … well, I really don’t know. All I can say is that I am enjoying myself playing tourneys or playing with friends or making new friends. The 9stacks website is very user-friendly, and the team running the show welcome suggestions to make it more interactive,” says Radhika Mahaliangaiah, a regular woman player on 9stacks.

    9stacks is an online poker platform where users can learn and play the game online and also earn money. It currently offers its online poker gaming services in 24 Indian states. Apart from poker, it also offers fantasy league contests under the brand name Faboom.

    The platform currently has more than 3.25L users across India and has witnessed a 350 per cent increase in userbase in 2019. The platform currently offers Texas and Omaha variants of poker that engage both experienced players and learners.