Dan Bilzerian “surprised” to be retained by GGPoker following online backlash

Controversial social media influencer Dan Bilzerian has said he was “surprised” GGPoker stood by him in light of the backlash against his appointment as a brand ambassador for the firm.

Speaking in an interview on the No Jumper YouTube channel, Bilzerian lifted the lid on the partnership with the poker operator and explained why his sponsorship agreement has since fizzled out.

In March, rumours swirled that Bilzerian had been axed by the operator as his name, images and emojis had all been wiped from the site.

However, GGPoker confirmed the self-professed gambling playboy remained as a “partner”, with a source confirming to EGR that Bilzerian was set to work on “major projects” in the future.

Asked why there was little to no promotion of GGPoker on his own social media channels, Bilzerian launched into an expletive-laden response, arguing he couldn’t produce “fake content” which was expected of him.

He said: “I don’t know. I couldn’t post. I couldn’t promote. It just seemed cheesy. I get offered so much money to do promos. I just don’t have the heart to do it. I got offered $3m to promote an NFT, I got offered $3m plus equity to promote a crypto coin. I won’t sell out.

“The whole premise of it was they were going to put me in high stake cash games, and I was going to get the content there. It wasn’t meant to be me sitting on a laptop. When the deal regressed, I wasn’t going to come up with fake content,” he added.

Bilzerian went on to note that at the start of the partnership, he had posted GGPoker-related content but issues regarding affiliate revenue share saw the partnership fizzle out.

He continued: “Initially I tried to do it, I did some posts and drove them some traffic, but then they were meant to give me a percentage of the people I recruited. They weren’t really paying me the affiliate revenue, so we just agreed to end it.”

The backlash from the online poker community, led in part by former GGPoker brand ambassador Vanessa Kade on Twitter, saw Bilzerian fight back.

Speaking on Bilzerian’s appointment in February 2021, Kade said: “I dunno why this has disappointed me so much. I think because the site has clearly been all about trying to be the best version of itself. I think in my mind it was the future of poker in a lot of ways. Then [Bilzerian’s appointment] is just a huge step backwards.”

Bilzerian replied: “Quiet hoe, nobody knows who you are.”

GGPoker retained Bilzerian in its stable and released a statement that condemned his words but promised to move forward.

The statement read: “There are things we can do and those we cannot. We cannot control everything our ambassadors say on their personal social media. Yes, an ambassador of GGPoker made a derogatory remark in response to being attacked.

“No, we do not agree with that reaction or statement at all. And we are very sorry it was made. We have tried to move forward in positive ways since then. We will continue to do so,” the statement concluded.