Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR) announced today that it’s selling the intellectual property rights associated with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to investment firm NSUS Group Inc. for $500 million. A WSOP logo. Caesars is selling the poker series to NSUS for $500 million. (Image: WSOP.com) The deal price consists of $250 million in cash and a $250 promissory note backed by WSOP’s intellectual property assets being sold. The note comes due five years from the closing date of the transaction, which is expected to occur before the end of this year .
It’s not immediately clear, but it is likely Caesars made a profit WSOP in some fashion. Then known as Harrah’s Entertainment, the company acquired WSOP and Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in 2004 for $917 million. Caesars owns the operating rights and the real estate of the venue now known as Horseshoe Las Vegas. The real estate alone would like fetch nine figures in a sale, implying that when added to the $500 million from the WSOP sale, Caesars is close to or already has turned a profit on the original Horseshoe purchase.
The acquisition of the Horseshoe and WSOP is ancient in terms of Caesars’ corporate history. It occurred prior to Harrah’s 2005 purchase of Caesars Entertainment for $10.4 billion. In 2008, private equity firms Apollo Management and TPG Capital L.P. took Harrah’s private in a deal valued at $27.8 billion. Caesars filed for bankruptcy protection in 2015 and it was sold to Eldorado Resorts for $17.3 billion in 2020. Bottom line: Caesars’ current management team, led by CEO Tom Reeg, had nothing to do with the acquisition of WSOP. WSOP Move Jibes with Caesars Asset Sale Plans
Earlier this year, Reeg said Caesars is open to selling “ non-core casinos ” and while WSOP isn’t a land-based gaming venue, the sale fits with the operator’s established divestment precedent. For example, Caesars sold the international assets of William Hill after acquiring that bookmaker several years ago.
Caesars Digital notched second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $40 million, nearly quadruple […]
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