Caesars cashes in on WSOP brand with $500m sale to GGPoker parent company
Operator parts ways with the intellectual property rights for the World Series of Poker after NSUS pays $500m, with Caesars carving out a handful of rights retentions
Caesars Entertainment is selling the intellectual property rights for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) brand to NSUS Group for $500m (£392.5m).
The transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, will be completed in two parts, with $250m to be paid in cash up front.
The remaining $250m will be due five years after the transaction’s closing date, which is expected to come later this year.
Caesars has owned the WSOP brand since 2004, when the operator was then known as Harrah’s Entertainment.
As part of the agreement, Caesars has retained the right, via a licence from NSUS, to deploy WSOP branding for its online poker offering in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
However, the operator will be “restricted from operating online peer-to-peer real-money poker operations for a specified period of time”.
The company will also continue to host the WSOP at several of its Las Vegas-based casinos for the next 20 years, where the annual event has been contested since its inception in 1970.
This summer’s $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event attracted 10,112 players, surpassing the previous record of 10,043 entrants set in 2023.
Caesars’ brick-and-mortar poker rooms will continue to feature WSOP branding, as well as its destinations boasting preferential rights to host WSOP Circuit events in the future.
In May, WSOP.com linked up player pools in Michigan with Nevada and New Jersey, becoming the first legal poker operator to combine three US jurisdictions.
NSUS Group is the parent company behind GGPoker, which has taken the vertical by storm in recent years after usurping PokerStars as the leader in cash-game traffic in June 2021.
GGPoker, which made its debut the EGR Power 50 last year, began life as a supplier in 2014 before branching out into B2C in 2017.
Eric Hession, Caesars Digital president, said: “We’ve enjoyed a longstanding and successful partnership with GGPoker that has helped spur the growth of the WSOP brand.
“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.”
NSUS CEO Michael Kim added: “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.”
Kim went on to outline how NSUS plans to shape the future of WSOP as he declared: “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.”
Kirkland & Ellis provided transactional counsel and Latham & Watkins acted as finance counsel to Caesars, while NSUS was represented by Greenberg Traurig.