VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 13, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sweetprize Entertainment Inc. (subsidiary of Presidents Financial Corporation (Pink Sheets:PZFC)), a provider of online poker services, today announced the planned launch of a marketing campaign for its online play-for-free poker game in the Southeast Asian region, starting with Taiwan.
Online poker games are growing globally and attracting a broader demographic range than ever. The popularity of online poker has spread to the Southeast Asia where poker was no more than a trendy Western card game just a year ago. The game has been gaining substantial momentum since.
The rate of broadband penetration has also grown rapidly in many Asian markets, including China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan. The detailed image quality, speed and immediacy of online play via broadband connection is fueling the exponential growth of online poker in the region. Amongst these countries, Taiwan is expected to be the market that will adopt online poker most rapidly, due to its card playing culture and its exposure to TV broadcasts of American poker tournaments. It is predicted that Taiwan's growth rate in the online poker game market will surpass that of North America by 2007.
Sweetprize plans to start its Taiwan marketing campaign in the second quarter of 2006. Depending on the nature of market response there, the campaign will then expand to other Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore and Malaysia. The target is to gain 500,000 members in the first six months of the campaign.
About Sweetprize Entertainment
Sweetprize Entertainment Inc. (www.sweetprize.com) is an online gaming company whose offerings include play-for-free online poker tournaments for registered members where online players can legally compete for a range of prizes such as Nano I-Pods, travel packages or a Porsche Cayman sports car. The company's web site targets well educated, high-income players who prefer to play in a legal environment for prizes. Revenue for the company is generated through advertising and V.I.P. membership fees though basic membership is free.
This press release contains information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results described within the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could contribute to such differences include those matters more fully disclosed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Company's estimates as of the date of the press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.