The World Series of Poker brand — a name synonymous with tournament poker for more than a half-century — is changing hands.
Caesars Entertainment, which has owned the WSOP since 2004. The company, then known as Harrah’s Entertainment, purchased Binion’s Horseshoe and with it the WSOP. Thursday (1 August), Caesars announced its selling the intellectual property rights to NSUS Group Inc. NSUS is the company behind international online poker site GGPoker.
NSUS (pronounced like “answers”) has agreed to pay $500 million to Caesars. It will pay $250m cash once the deal is closed, and another $250m five years from that closing date.
The 2024 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas concluded last week. It was held for the second year at its new Strip homes, Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe Las Vegas. As part of the agreement, Caesars will retain the right to host the annual tournament series at its Vegas properties for the next 20 years. In addition, Caesars casinos can continue to host WSOP Circuit events and feature WSOP branding in their poker rooms.
On the digital poker side, WSOP Online is currently available in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Caesars will continue to operate those sites — but will “otherwise be restricted from operating online peer-to-peer real-money poker operations for a specified period of time and subject to certain exceptions,” according to the press release.
‘An exciting future for WSOP’
This is not a brand-new relationship. The World Series of Poker and GGPoker have previously partnered for overseas qualifiers for WSOP tournaments.
“After collaborating with Caesars Entertainment for years, NSUS Group, the operators of GGPoker, is thrilled to announce their new role in leading the World Series of Poker, the world’s most renowned poker brand,” said NSUS CEO Michael Kim in the release. “We will leverage GGPoker’s cutting-edge technology and industry expertise to create an exciting future for WSOP, ensuring players have an increasingly improved, safe, and seamless poker experience. Under the new leadership, NSUS intends to expand WSOP worldwide, positioning it at the forefront of poker’s growth.”
Read the full story here.
Casino Reports is an independently-owned
publication dedicated to covering the regulated US online
casino/igaming industry, with news, features and original reporting on industry happenings, business, legislation, regulations and more.