Caesars Entertainment said Thursday it sold the World Series of Poker( WSOP) brand and intellectual property rights for $500 million to an investment group operating in the online gaming sector — but will continue hosting the well-known poker tournament for the next two decades.
The sale comes two days after Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said the company was not planning to “sell any operating casino assets,” but hinted at trading “non-core, nonoperating casino assets” without specifically mentioning the World Series of Poker.
The casino operator is retaining the rights to host the annual World Series of Poker live tournament every summer at the Horseshoe Las Vegas for the next 20 years. Caesars Digital will also receive a license to continue operating its WSOP online version in Nevada.
Caesars, which acquired the brand in 2004 from the Binion family, grew the event from the annual tournament that began in downtown Las Vegas to a series of year-round circuit events at Caesars properties in the U.S. and across the globe. The company also launched an online version of the WSOP.
NSUS Group, which has launched several online gaming ventures, including the online poker room GGPoker that hosts WSOP.com, is paying $250 million in cash and a $250 million promissory note. The note, which is secured by the WSOP intellectual property assets, is due five years after the transaction’s closing expected by the end of 2024. NSUS is headquartered in Toronto with offices in Europe and Asia.
“We’ve enjoyed a longstanding and successful partnership with GGPoker that has helped spur the growth of the WSOP brand,” said Eric Hession, president of Caesars Digital. “It continues to evolve.”
Reeg was asked by analysts about potential sales on Caesars’ second-quarter earnings conference call Tuesday.
“As I said previously, there are non-core, nonoperating casino assets in the portfolio that I think could trade at a significantly accretive multiple for us, and you should expect us to try to take advantage of those opportunities,” he said.
In a research note to investors after the sale announcement, JP Morgan gaming analyst Joe Greff wrote the WSOP sale “is a first step of selling less than core assets” to help reduce the company’s long-term debt of $12.4 billion.
NSUS CEO Michael Kim said in a statement that the company would use GGPoker’s technology to grow the online version of the game.
“Under the new leadership, NSUS intends to expand WSOP worldwide, positioning it at the forefront of poker’s growth,” he said.
Caesars, then known as Harrah’s Entertainment, acquired the World Series of Poker brand along with Binion’s in downtown Las Vegas in 2004. That same year, Jack Binion sold Horseshoe Gaming to Harrah’s Entertainment — the predecessor to Caesars — for $1.45 billion.
Over the years, the World Series of Poker grew from a small downtown Las Vegas poker game into a six-week tournament with multiple events. Caesars moved the tournament from Binion’s to the Rio Las Vegas, which the company owned at the time.
Last year, Caesars rebranded Bally’s Las Vegas as Horseshoe Las Vegas, bringing the tournament to the Strip, creating a large poker room setting in the convention space that connects the resort with Paris Las Vegas.
The recently completed 2024 World Series of Poker featured 99 live events and awarded more than $437 million in prize money.
The 2024 $10,000-buy-in No Limit Hold‘em Main Event broke the attendance record set in the previous year by attracting 10,112 players. Professional poker player Jonathan Tamayo won the $10 million grand prize.