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MPN’s Universal Championship of Poker returns this autumn
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The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) flagship tournament series, the Universal Championship of Poker (UCOP), returns for its fifth instalment this autumn, with €1 million guaranteed across 94 events.
Running from 15 to 29 September 2019, this year’s UCOP will feature a variety of formats, with buy-ins ranging from €2.20 to €320, hundreds of satellites, and a leaderboard with prizes worth more than €20,000.
Starting on 1 September 2019, seats can be secured to the UCOP series from as little as €0.01 in daily satellites running on all participating MPN poker rooms. The satellite schedule will include a €22 buy-in Mega Feeder on 29 September at 14:30*, guaranteeing 100 seats to the UCOP Main Event. A daily Freeroll Rebuy Feeder to the Main Event is scheduled to take place each day at 18:15, as well as direct feeder satellites to other UCOP events.
The €100,000 guaranteed Main Event on 29 September at 17:00, the €45,000 guaranteed High Roller on 29 September at 18:00, and the €30,000 guaranteed 6 Max Freezeout on 22 September at 18:00 are among the many highlights of this year’s UCOP tournament schedule. What’s more, from 1 to 29 September, players who complete certain achievements (outlined on the MPN UCOP webpage), will receive a €110 buy-in UCOP Main Event ticket.
Looking to defend his crown in this year’s series is UCOP 2018 Main Event champion, Mantas Urbonas, who comments: “UCOP is a two-week festival, and a €1 million guarantee in total prizes is a huge incentive not to miss any event. I really want to take down at least one of them! Of course, repeating last year’s success and winning the Main Event again would be fantastic, but I know the odds are very small! I am very happy that players can choose from small buy-ins to high rollers. I will try to play most of the events, even PLO. I have heard positive feedback from players so this will be my first time taking part in the whole festival.”
In addition to this year’s action-packed tournament schedule, the UCOP leaderboard will be running throughout the series. Whoever leads the pack at the end of the series will be crowned the ‘Greatest Poker Player in the Universe’, taking home the coveted trophy, a €1,550 Online Tournament Ticket package, €1,500 MPN Poker Tour (MPNPT) package, €1,000 in cash, and a Player’s Choice prize. The top eight players will also be eligible to select a Player’s Choice prize (a €1,550 Online Tournament Tickets Package, €1,500 MPNPT Package, or €1,000 in cash).
As if that weren’t enough, any player who wins a UCOP event will qualify to play in the Tournament of Champions on 6 October at 19:00, which will pay out the top eight players, including a Player’s Choice prize for first place.
For anyone looking to tune in and watch the UCOP action live, 29-year-old Betsafe player, Bobby James, will be streaming most UCOP events on his Twitch channel (‘The__BJP’). Bobby is a full-time poker professional who is well known in the UK poker community, and was one of the lucky winners from the recent MPNPT Birthday Boy or Girl competition, which gave away five special MPNPT London packages to celebrate the MPNPT’s fifth anniversary.
For further information on this year’s UCOP series, including the full tournament and satellite schedule, please visit the MPN website. For regular UCOP results and updates throughout the series, check out the MPN blog.
* All times in BST (UTC+1).
“With €1 million guaranteed across 94 events, we will be offering the biggest event series in the MPN’s history this September. We have introduced affordable lower-stakes tournaments, with buy-ins ranging from €2.20 to €320, so that players of all levels can enjoy the series over the two-week period and have the chance to claim UCOP victory. The team is looking forward to seeing all the action unfold over the coming weeks.” -said Alex Scott, Managing Director of Poker at Microgaming.
Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: MPN’s Universal Championship of Poker returns this autumn

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PSG want to be the club of the new generation — and gaming has to be a part of it!
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esport-news.co.uk recently sat down with PSG’s brand and business development Nadia Benmokhtar. She spoke about how PSG’s investment into eSports has already seen massive engagement in Asia, how they plan to be a part of the new generation through eSports and how they can diversify their audience.
If you are to use any of the content below, please link to https://esports-news.co.uk/ or the following article, where you can find the full interview: https://esports-news.co.uk/2025/10/20/psg-esports-interview-why-football-clubs-invest
Highlights from the inteview:
- “At PSG, we want to be the club of the new generation — and when you say new generation, gaming has to be part of it.”(Nadia on why esports is central to PSG’s brand identity.)
- “When we entered esports, we didn’t just want to do FIFA. We wanted to be present in major games with big audiences.”(On PSG’s bold approach to expanding beyond traditional football titles.)
- “We partner with people who understand the scene — Vitality and Talon are not just teams, they’re real brands.”(On building authentic, long-term collaborations in esports.)
- “Esports allows us to diversify our audience, expand globally, and connect with communities that might not start as football fans but can still become PSG fans.”(On the club’s goal of global fan engagement through gaming.)
- “We started with esports for credibility, but now we’re exploring the entire gaming universe — from mobile titles to digital experiences like Roblox.”(On PSG’s next phase of gaming innovation.)
___________________________________________________________
PSG are using gaming to be a part of the new generation
“The goal with eSports is to grow the audience across different touchpoints, increase the brand exposure, and also diversify that audience because we want to target people that are not especially football fans at the beginning. But with esports, you can create a different kind of connection. We know that it’s a very engaged market. It’s also a way to target different territories. If you look at PSG, as an example, the French League is not very visible in Asia. So you can say that through esports, you will find a different way to connect with this type of audience. So it’s really part of the club strategy. So first, we are a multi-club sport. We have football, of course, men’s football, but we also have women’s football, handball, judo, and esports is really considered as a sports section in the club. But for sure, we aim to be at PSG, the club of the new generation. That’s our brand positioning. And when you say new generation, of course, gaming should be part of it.”
Brand recognition in Asia was key
“Asia has been one of the key territories for us since launch. We had an important partnership on the game Dota 2 with a Chinese company, LGD. So we had a very successful team with LGD, but at the end, Dota became a game very costly and to us it didn’t make sense to just spend millions in player salaries with no return on investment. With LGD, it was a new partner with a team that is already very big, and you just enter and do a big, big push. With Talon, the story was a bit different because we really grew together.”
PSG have already seen a great return on their eSports investments
“It depends on what kind of return you want. The initial objective was not pure revenue; it was more exposure. So if you look at brand exposure, fan engagement, brand coolness, yes, for sure, the return is there. If you look at the finance, not yet, but I think it will come. And it’s also a way to link it with the future strategy. So we really feel that we are now only at the beginning of the story when it comes to PSG and gaming. We entered through esports and I think that was great because that gives us also credibility now to speak about all the other verticals.”
PSG want fans of the club, not just their football teams
“If you can convert an esports fan into a football fan, a PSG fan, it’s cool. But I think what we want is to have a PSG fan. And if you are a fan of the club because you are a fan of our League of Legends team, that’s enough for me. I’m happy to have you in my base. And our whole job is to offer them what they want as an esports fan. That’s why we have a lot of work internally at the moment about the database, where the fans are, who they are, and what they are expecting from us. If you are a young League of Legends fan based in Hong Kong and you love PSG thanks to esports, and you are just expecting us to be able to sell you an esports jersey in Hong Kong, which is not the case now, we will try to develop this to be able to make you happy.”
The post PSG want to be the club of the new generation — and gaming has to be a part of it! appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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TrueLayer to Acquire Zimpler, Creating a European Pay by Bank Powerhouse
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TrueLayer, Europe’s leading Pay by Bank network, today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Zimpler, the fastest growing Pay by Bank network in the Nordics. The acquisition will bring together two of Europe’s most innovative Pay by Bank providers, further strengthening TrueLayer as a formidable force in the European payments industry.
This acquisition marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of Pay by Bank across Europe. By expanding TrueLayer’s pan-European network and deep expertise in payment technology with Zimpler’s strong position in the Nordic market, TrueLayer will be uniquely positioned to further accelerate the shift from legacy card payments to smarter, faster, and more secure payments via Pay by Bank.
The acquisition is another clear step forward for TrueLayer in its mission to build a powerful alternative to legacy payments in Europe, fostering greater competition, innovation and value for businesses and their consumers.
With some of the highest adoption rates of account-to-account (A2A) payments anywhere in the world, the Nordic region has been a proving ground for Pay by Bank. By acquiring Zimpler, TrueLayer will have more than 20 million users and will add coverage across key markets such as Sweden, Finland, and will add additional A2A capabilities through the Swish payment rail integration. This significantly strengthens TrueLayer’s pan-European network, accelerating the shift to smarter, safer, and more cost-effective payments.
Founded in 2012 by Johan Friis and Kristofer Ekman Sinclair, Zimpler has grown rapidly to become a Pay by Bank leader in the Nordics. TrueLayer is proud to welcome Zimpler’s founders and shareholders on this journey – joining the likes of Stripe, Northzone, and Tiger Global in backing its mission to transform the way the world pays.
“I am excited to welcome the Zimpler team to TrueLayer,” said Francesco Simoneschi, Co-founder and CEO of TrueLayer. “We’ve long admired their progress, and we’re excited to add such an incredible group of builders and payment experts to the TrueLayer team We’re not just expanding our footprint in the Nordics – we’re combining talent, technology, and scale to accelerate Pay by Bank adoption across the continent, and further strengthening Pay by Bank as a force of disruption that is changing how the world pays.”
“Joining forces with TrueLayer is a fantastic opportunity to build the leading Pay by Bank provider in Europe” said Johan Strand, CEO of Zimpler. “TrueLayer has a proven track record of innovation and a powerful network. Our combined strengths will allow us to offer an even more compelling proposition to the market. Joining TrueLayer will enable us to reach new heights and drive the next wave of growth in the industry. At the same time, we remain firmly anchored in Sweden, with our local licence and expertise ensuring continuity for our customers.”
The post TrueLayer to Acquire Zimpler, Creating a European Pay by Bank Powerhouse appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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SPORTRADAR AWARDED UNITED ARAB EMIRATES LICENSE
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Sportradar Group AG (NASDAQ: SRAD) has been granted a gaming-related vendor license from the United Arab Emirates’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), an independent entity of the UAE Federal Government with exclusive jurisdiction to regulate, license, and supervise all commercial gaming activities.
The license, operational with immediate effect, affords Sportradar the opportunity to provide its products and services to licensed operators.
Sportradar looks forward to bringing its 20+ year expertise and proprietary sports technology to operators and clients in the region.
The post SPORTRADAR AWARDED UNITED ARAB EMIRATES LICENSE appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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