June 20, 2024 – Aftermath Interactive AB, a Sweden-based independent game studio, and Hensel Grad P.C., a U.S. gaming law and advisory firm, today announced a strategic agreement to develop a skill-based poker game for launch in the U.S.
The strategic agreement partners Aftermath Interactive’s innovative game development expertise with Hensel Grad’s deep knowledge of U.S. gaming laws and regulation. Together the companies will create a truly skill based digital poker experience. The concept builds on Aftermath Interactive’s free-to-play game Hands of Victory which is currently in early soft-launch. Non-US players can try the game out by participating in tournaments hosted on the Challengermode platform.
“Our vision leverages patent-approved technology and our Hands of Victory IP to evolve poker as a competitive skill game and provide players with fun, new ways to showcase poker-related skills while competing for prize money,” said Kim Lund, CEO of Aftermath Interactive. “By introducing novel, skill-enhancing game mechanics, more action oriented, character-based gameplay and a dynamic, decision-based scoring system, we believe a pay-to-enter version of Hands of Victory can fill a profound hole in the US market. Thanks to this strategic agreement we can now explore various paths to deliver that vision transparently and in line with state and federal laws.“
Hensel Grad will draw on its knowledge of gaming laws and regulations to help shape the pay-to-enter version of Hands of Victory game for the U.S. in a manner that ensures the game qualifies as a game of skill under state laws. “U.S. courts have long held that traditional poker is a game of chance and, therefore, subject to state gambling laws,” said Susan Hensel, Co-founder and Partner of Hensel Grad. “The Hands of Victory game is different from traditional poker. It will equip players with a wide range of tactical tools to put an entertaining and engaging twist on poker and will be unlike any other game currently available to U.S. players.”
Aftermath Interactive is a start-up game studio run by gaming veterans with 50+ years combined experience in crafting, operating and promoting games including gambling games. Hensel Grad is a firm established by former gaming regulators to assist gaming companies in navigating the often complex and disparate U.S. state-based regulatory environment. By agreeing to work together, the companies will optimize one another’s knowledge to offer U.S. poker players and other gamers a fresh opportunity to demonstrate and develop their game playing skills.
About Aftermath Interactive & Hensel Grad
Aftermath Interactive is a start-up game studio run by gaming veterans with a mission to bridge the gap between gambling and gaming and re-imagine how classic cards games are played, mastered and monetized. For this purpose, the studio has developed a proprietary platform called dealR along with a recipe for skill-based gameplay and an approach to monetization that can be applied to other verticals like sports prediction games as well. The studio’s first title is the genre-crossing poker-based game Hands of Victory.
Hensel Grad is a gaming law and advisory firm that leverages its founder’s experience as gaming regulators to assist clients entering and operating in U.S. gaming jurisdictions. The firm was founded by Susan Hensel, the former director of licensing for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board who is former two term president of the International Association of Gaming Regulators and Joe Grad, a former counsel to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board who has been assisting gaming clients for the past fifteen years as a private sector attorney. For more information: https://henselgrad.com.
INFO AND CONTACT DETAILS:
Hands of Victory website (log-in and play): handsofvictory.com
Hands of Victory discord channel: https://discord.gg/zjnaDrff
Studio website: aftermathplay.com
Link to tournament offering and registration: Hands of Victory | Challengermode
For more info and press inquiries contact:
Kim Lund
E-mail: kim@aftermathplay.com
X: @infiniteedgekim
Phone: +46 708 399550
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