Writing for SBCLeaders, Joe Streeter provided analysis over the current state of Poker and some of the vertical’s key movers and shakers.
GGPoker’s $500m acquisition of World Series of Poker (WSOP) reveals one company, at least, which is prepared to invest in poker’s future.
Whilst WSOP events are set to remain at Caesars venues, Caesars’ sale of the brand and operation to GG Poker shines a light on the next phase in the evolution of WSOP. GG’s move into brick and mortar events cements live poker’s place in an industry that seemed to be heading inexorably into the digital space.
Live poker has continued to flourish – particularly in Las Vegas. For consecutive years, the World Series of Poker Main Event set new records for the largest prize pool in live poker tournament history. Close to 10,112 players turned up for this year’s, eclipsing last year’s milestone of 10,043 entrants.
Furthermore, the live events have been steadfast in attracting the stars. Some of the most famous faces from myriad sectors – from Hollywood to the Premier League – have been drawn to poker. This pulling power is such an important asset for operators to exploit. Nonetheless, the WSOP acquisition drew a catty response from Peter Jackson, the CEO of PokerStars owner Flutter Entertainment. “GG Poker operates in a lot of markets that we wouldn’t be prepared to operate in,” Jackson told analysts.
He continued: “So I think there’s some interesting questions there for some of those people involved.” Jackson and his CFO Rob Coldrake went on to big up PokerStars for the first time in a long while. They claimed PokerStars continues to provide the firm with significant opportunities across the US.
“While there has been no legislative movement for online poker or casino, there has been talk of online poker, which is more palatable to land-based casinos, being used as a beachhead from which to launch online casino legislation at some point in the future.
“When you look at it globally, poker is breaking down into different segments from a liquidity perspective,” observed Jackson. “We are in a strong position in some of those local markets because of the strength of the local hero brands that we have.” Coldrake highlighted the positive progress of poker during the opening quarter of 2024 – albeit without going into detail on numbers. In fact, he went one further describing the “transformation” of Stars during Q1 – again, without going big on specifics beyond a launch in Switzerland in July.
There was also renewed optimism from Coldrake for PokerStars continuing to experience green shoots in the US. “When you look at the PokerStars business in the rest of the world, we continue to see the positive impact of some pricing initiatives that we’ve put in place,” Coldrake continued.
“We’ve made some changes to both the loyalty, which has resulted in cost savings. And we’ve also had a number of offset savings across our casino products. So really happy with the way that we’re trending on poker overall.” While poker might not be thriving to the extent that Jackson and Coldrake actually reveal some numbers for PokerStars, it does show their commitment to the vertical and its evolution. GG Poker has more than demonstrated its commitment. Everyone else will need to continue to innovate to keep up.
