GGPoker has made another major play within the poker industry as the online poker giant’s parent company, NSUS Group, Inc., has purchased a stake in the popular Hustler Casino Live show.
The new owners of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) bought the equity in the company from co-founder Nick Vertucci, who stepped down as co-owner in October following sexual harassment allegations made by a player on the show.
Feldman’s Expanded Role at Hustler Casino Live
Ryan Feldman, Vertucci’s co-owner since the show’s inception in August 2021, told PokerNews he will continue in his role, but it will be an expanded role.
“It doesn’t really impact my role. It just means that I’m doing more,” Feldman said.
The “more” part, as he explained, is the business side of things Vertucci previously handled. Feldman said that GGPoker will have a hands-off approach to the daily business functions, which means he’s now tasked with producing the show, putting together lineups, and now also day-to-day tasks.
GGPoker’s parent company, NSUS, bought the WSOP from Caesars Entertainment for $500 million last summer. The deal was finalized in October 2024.
The poker site repped by high-profile pros such as Daniel Negreanu and Fedor Holz is certainly making its mark on the poker industry. Hustler Casino Live is the most popular livestream in poker history.
Feldman and Vertucci built a loyal following that has stuck with them through controversies such as the Robbi-Garrett saga and the Vertucci accusations. The show has produced some of the most memorable poker games in history, including the iconic 2022 “MrBeast Game” and the first ever $1 million minimum buy-in livestreamed cash game in 2023, a game HCL replicated last year.
The largest pot in livestream poker history, won by Tom Dwan for $3.1 million, took place on Hustler Casino Live in May 2023. Many of the biggest names in the game have competed on HCL, including Dwan, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, and Garrett Adelstein.
New Era for Poker Livestream
The show will now move on to a new era, one that doesn’t involve Vertucci who not only co-owned the stream but was also a regular in the games.
Feldman and Vertucci teamed up in 2021 a year after the former was ousted from his position as producer of Live at the Bike, a competing poker livestream in Los Angeles at Commerce Casino. The duo won Global Poker Awards and created a show that consistently hit 10,000 or more concurrent YouTube viewers day after day, month after month. Hustler Casino Live’s YouTube channel has over 370,000 subscribers.
But the business partnership has officially come to an end, and GGPoker will now team up with Feldman. This deal, as the HCL co-founder explained, won’t have a short-term impact on the livestream. Instead, he said, GGPoker has some long-term visions for the show that will be noticeable down the road.
“It adds some legitimacy to our company. It kind of strengthens our company. We now have a major force in the industry behind us. It strengthens our global reach,” Feldman said of the GGPoker partnership.
After Vertucci decided to step down, Feldman said he began fielding calls from various companies expressing interest in buying Vertucci’s stake. But only one company, NSUS Group, had the “willingness to get a deal done.”
With GGPoker now having a part of Hustler Casino Live, it begs the question — will Negreanu finally play on the show?
“I’ve always had a great relationship with Daniel. He just seems to be the type who doesn’t love to leave Vegas and his interest isn’t really in cash games,” Feldman said.
But now that HCL has teamed up with GGPoker, Feldman realizes his chances of getting Negreanu out to Hustler Casino in Los Angeles are greater, and Negreanu confirmed as much in a press release.
“You rarely see me playing high-stakes poker on streams anymore, but this is going to get me out of retirement and returning to the felt, playing on the most epic cash game stream poker has ever seen. I’m ready to battle,” Negreanu said.
Feldman could not disclose the price NSUS Group paid to acquire Vertucci’s stake in the company.