GGPoker buys WSOP from Caesars for $500m

Caesars Entertainment has agreed to sell its World Series of Poker (WSOP) property to NSUS Inc – parent company of online poker operator GGPoker. 

Total estimates have placed the deal at USD $500mn, with NSUS having to pay $250mn cash up front and the other half in five years. 

GGPoker has worked with WSOP as partner for several years

GGPoker has worked closely as a partner with the WSOP over the last few years, sending a number of online satellite qualifiers to both the Las Vegas and the WSOP Paradise events. During COVID, the site also hosted an international online WSOP tournament series, awarding 54 bracelets.

“We’ve enjoyed a longstanding and successful partnership with GGPoker that has helped spur the growth of the WSOP brand,” President of Caesars Digital Eric Hession. “This transaction is an exciting step for Caesars as a company and the WSOP brand as it continues to evolve. We can’t wait to see what NSUS has in store for growing the WSOP’s legacy in poker, and we look forward to continuing to deliver an unmatched and familiar experience to poker players going forward.”

Live WSOP events will remain at Caesars Las Vegas properties

Though Caesars is offloading the brand, it is not offloading the events. As part of the agreement, the summer series will continue to call Caesars properties in Las Vegas home. Regional Caesars properties will continue to offer World Series of Poker Circuit events as well.

“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 Group CEO Michael Kim. 

“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.”

Caesars Digital will retain current WSOP Online US poker markets

Caesars Digital currently offers WSOP Online poker in Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The terms of the deal will allow Caesars to continue to offer the WSOP-branded sights, which run on the 888 platform. However, Caesars will not be able to expand into new online poker states, such as West Virginia, “for a specified period of time and subject to certain exceptions.”

Caesars announced the player pooling of Nevada, New Jersey and Michigan in May along with a rebrand from WSOP.com to WSOP Online. Pennsylvania remains ring-fenced as the state has yet to sign off on player pooling with other markets.

GGPoker currently powers WSOP.com in Ontario and has since the app launched in the province in April 2022.

GGPoker currently the largest online poker site in the world

While GGPoker is live in the regulated Canadian province, it currently does not have a presence in the U.S. The group obtained a supplier license in Pennsylvania in 2021 but have not rolled out any products there.

Outside of the U.S., however, GGPoker is operational in a number of countries and PokerScout reports it has the largest pool of cash game players in the world, besting former leader PokerStars. That growth has not come without some issues though.

NSUS was fined nearly $750,000 by the UK Gambling Commission in 2022 for AML and self-exclusion issues.

Caesars said open to selling “non-core” business assets

The news of the sale comes one day after the Caesars Entertainment earnings call during which Hession acknowledged they were always open to offloading “non-core” business assets. He also summed up what kind of business the brand was doing for the company.

“The online poker does okay, but doesn’t make a huge amount of money, and then the royalty streams and the land-based casinos where the economics are, it makes between $20 million and $25 million for the year as a whole.”

While the online poker was not a money maker for Caesars, which did not do much to expand the online brand beyond North America, GGPoker has potential to grow the online business either through a rebrand of its current sites or by launching WSOP-branded rooms as a skin on the GGPoker platform as it has in Ontario.