STOCKHOLM - The European Mahjong Association EMA and the internet mahjong server Mahjong Logic have reached an agreement about sponsorship. To celebrate this partnership, two online mahjong tournaments will be held the coming month: an MCR tournament (April 10th) and a riichi tournament (April 17th). These pilot tournaments, however, will not be included in the new EMA MORSE ranking list.

The new partnership replaces the old cooperation with Mahjong Time, the internet mahjong server EMA had a contract with until last year. Not all EMA member countries will join the cooperation with Mahjong Logic. The Russian mahjong federation, for example, has organized a number of online tournaments on the Mahjong Time server.

Furthermore, the German Mahjong League (DMJL) does not participate because of the restrictions in the German legislation concerning gambling on the internet. Mr. Uwe Martens, president of DMJL, comments that, according to German law, Mahjong Logic is considered a gambling platform. "That's why DMJL cannot support the new cooperation between EMA and Mahjong Logic", says Uwe Martens.

According to Mr. Robert Rijnders, current EMA-president, Mahjong Logic wants to be a sponsor of major tournaments. "For the WMC to be held in the Netherlands later this year, Mahjong Logic has expressed its interest and willingness to become a main sponsor for that event."

Jonas Alm, CEO of Mahjong Logic, confirms there is an agreement about sponsoring the world championship. "Also, we will run tournaments where one winner can win a seat for the event", says Mr. Alm. 

No obligation

When asked about details about the agreement with Mahjong Logic, Robert Rijnders says that here is no obligation whatsoever for any EMA member country to cooperate with or display commercial advertising material about Mahjong Logic. "The idea of the partnership is that everyone can negotiate an arrangement which is suited to the situation and possibilities. EMA only requires these negotiations to be made through EMA, at least for now."
The partnership with Mahjong Logic is going to evolve in time, according to Robert Rijnders.  "There is no written contract at this stage, no binding restriction or exclusionary rule. We do hope for a beneficial cooperation of course, but we have no fixed targets. Mahjong Logic is fairly new in this field and has yet to develop both player base and its platform interface. We want to be helpful by supporting that and we hope to get a financial gain for tournament organizers at the same time."

He states that there is no problem in cooperating with a server where mahjong can be played for money. Last year a Sisi tournament was played where the winner received a free subscription to the World Series of Mahjong, where  money prizes were involved. He agrees that within EMA some members object against playing for money, while other do not. "But there is no formal position about this topic." 

Unlike DMJL, the Dutch mahjong association (also presided by Robert Rijnders) will participate in the partnership. "On the other hand, there is no problem if certain countries will continue to cooperate with Mahjong Time. Like Russia, where the players have no other option  to play online", says Mr. Rijnders. But he adds that in this case, these tournaments do not have an official status. That means, the results will not be included in the formal EMA MORSE Ranking for on line tournaments.

Online tournaments

After the summer, EMA and Mahjong Logic will initialize together online tournaments which will have a formal MORSE status. 

www.mahjonglogic.com