Thailand’s Ministry of Interior ended the poker ban under new rules effective 30 July 2025, and the Sports Authority of Thailand recognised poker as a sport on 23 July. The government also agreed to host a World Poker Tour event, with the source saying play was limited to six hours a day on weekdays.
The change allows poker events in Thailand under new rules, including a stated daily limit on weekday play.
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Thailand's tourism and sports minister and the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau announced a collaboration with the World Poker Tour and Thailand RF Tourism and Sports Competition Club, reportedly. The plan starts with one event per season and could grow to three or four annually; the casino-entertainment complex bill remains pending discussion.
The World Poker Tour and PokerBaazi agreed to host WPT tournaments online for players in India, the companies said. The arrangement will allow Indian players to compete remotely in WPT events. WPT chief executive Adam Pliska said the partnership would expand the tour’s presence in the country.
Holland Casino will host the World Series of Poker at its Amsterdam Centrum venue from 14 to 22 March 2025, the parties announced. Holland Casino said the WSOP’s arrival ends its cooperation with the World Poker Tour in Amsterdam, where WPT events ran from 2015 to 2024 except in 2021.
Ecuador’s National Assembly approved an update to the Organic Law on Sport, Physical Education and Recreation in December 2025 that expressly recognises sports predictions as legal and subject to state regulation. The measure still awaited executive sanction and publication, while licensing rules and specific tax obligations remained to be set by secondary regulation, the interviewed legal specialists said.
A federal judge in Nevada ruled that Kalshi’s sports-event contracts must comply with state gaming regulations and lifted an injunction that had barred enforcement, reportedly finding the contracts were wagers tied to sporting outcomes. Kalshi filed an appeal the following day with the Ninth Circuit, seeking to overturn the ruling.