Caesars sells WSOP, UAE and North Korea outline gambling plans

The iconic World Series of Poker (WSOP) will find a new home as Caesars Entertainment, the entertainment giant behind the brand, has agreed to divest the asset and sell it to NSUP Group Inc. for a sum total of $500m.

The transaction mixes cash and promissory notes split evenly, worth $250m each. The promissory note is due five years after the transaction has been completed, or "closed" in financial vernacular.

Despite choosing to give up ownership of the brand, Caesars is going to retain the hosting rights for the event, and will continue to operate the tournament as its host over the next 20 years, in charge of its flagship live tournament series across the Strip.

Charting a regulatory course for the future

The United Arab Emirates has issued its first lottery license to The Game LLC, a subsidiary of Momentum, an Abu Dhabi firm.

The country’s recently established regulator, the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority has also outlined further details as to how the region will proceed with the development of gambling, outlining core principles in its just-launched website, which goes to list what is currently known about the regulatory regime in the kingdom.

North Korea is looking to introduce a third casino license to the country, and specifically the capital, Pyongyang, where Ryugyong Hotel towers over the city as the largest building, but has not yet been finished.

North Korea wants to find an investor who would be willing to finish the interior of the building and receive, in exchange, a casino license. North Korea’s modest tourism influx, though, could seriously hamper any future casino operators to drive any meaningful return on investment.

Las Vegas Sands is looking to expand in Texas, something the company has been after since it divested from real estate in Nevada back in 2021. During a new meeting reuniting multiple elected officials and city representatives, Sands has outlined its plans for five possible Las Vegas-style casino resorts across the Lone Star State.

Addy Abboud, the lobbyist hired for Las Vegas Sands, exuded confidence, arguing that his company is committed to bringing these developments to fruition. The arrival of casino resorts as proposed by Sands could lead to 185,000 construction jobs, 70,000 new permanent and part-time jobs, and $13bn added to the state’s gross domestic product.

Pennsylvania land-based casinos are on the offensive, with several large operators filing a new lawsuit in which they want to be exempted from the slot machine tax that stands at 51% in the Keystone State and is the highest in the country.

The lawsuit’s real intent is not to buy an exemption for the operators, but rather to put in relief the fact that the so-called skill-based machines, which are essentially slots the plaintiffs argue, do not need to meet this tax, giving them an unfair advantage.

Changes to the betting and gaming business

In the meantime, WynnBET has decided to pull the plug on its sports betting operations in New York, with the list of defunct states for the company’s sports betting operations now reaching 10 jurisdictions across the United States.

In the meantime, DraftKings has proposed and is committed to implementing a new "surcharge tax" that will apply to players who win in a move that has ruffled feathers, and has perhaps taken the industry closer to a reckoning – high entry and operational costs, fierce competition, and smart bettors is putting serious strain on the legal sports betting market’s ability to turn a profit.

The proposal seeks to charge small incremental amounts that are to be detracted from winning wagers, and the tax may be further determined based on regulatory realities in individual states where DraftKings operate in. The first states to get the tax are Illinois, NewYork, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, and the tax applies to player net winnings.

DraftKings has also announced this week that it is winding down its market for non-fungible tokens due to mounting legal scrutiny.

Catching up on some of the deals over the past week, we should mention Apollo Funds’ bid to purchase IGT and Everi for the sum total of $6.3bn. The deal is expected to go through, transferring the assets under management to Apollo Global Management.

Sega Sammy continues to consolidate its presence in the online gambling market with the latest move targeting the purchase of Stakelogic, a Dutch developer of casino games, for a sum total of €130m ($141m). This tie-up reflects the company’s latest ambition to consolidate its presence in the digital iGaming sector and strengthen its production capabilities.

Bally’s Corporation has accepted a takeover offer from Standard General, which will see a deal worth $4.6bn come through. The deal has not been commented on in the latest earnings call by Bally’s, but it’s expected to go through regardless.

The Internet phenomenon, Hawk TuahGirl, is now planning to turn her viral fame into a tangible business venture through 16 Minutes LLC, a dig at people who have been complaining about her "15 minutes of fame." The venture has registered several trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office, one of which is "Bet on That Thang," a company that could soon be offering sports betting wagers.

The industry inside out

In this week’s conversations with the industry, we caught up with Lisa Sophie Dallos, who spoke at length about why operators ought to and mostly care about responsible gambling, highlighting the fact that building meaningful relationships between brands and audiences is what drives margins up.

She similarly focused on the fact that many companies are already proactively engaging with customers to ensure that they are safe, and although the optics focus on bad actors, the industry as a whole is going above and beyond to protect players. Read the full conversation with Dallos here.

Stressing responsible gambling and player health, we also caught up with Ryan McCarthy, Director of Player Health at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), who discussed at length what the term "player health" means and how the BCLC is working to actively improve it.

He emphasized the importance of understanding players better to offer personalized support and ensure that player health best practices are embedded into the industry. Read the full conversation with Ryan McCarthy here.

Not least, Casino Guru has some interesting news to announce. The Free Slot Tournaments launched on July 10, 2023, have proven to be a huge success, having run more than 68 editions and engaging with thousands of players worldwide. One of the standout events in the series was the Sweet Bonanza 1000 tournament which saw more than 12,000 players engage, with more such events planned.

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