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Written by Mathias | Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Last quarter, Harrah’s Entertainment took a loss of more than $4 billion. In order to avoid bankruptcy gaming industry analysts predict that the company will have to sell off some of its assets, one of their most valuable assets being the branding rights to the WSOP. This has caught the attention of a few online gambling operators who would love to acquire a piece of the WSOP brand.
The WSOP was purchased by Harrah’s from Binion’s and has had sole control over the tournament ever since. The ideal choice for Harrah’s would be to introduce the WSOP logo to the world of online poker, unveiling a new online poker site dedicated to the tournament, once the UIGEA is repealed. It can be assumed that a site that held the WSOP branding rights would inevitably become an overnight success, even though the popular land-based WPT failed online. The failure of the WPT, however, can be blamed on a number of other factors that played a role in its demise (i.e. poor management, competition between online poker rooms, etc.) The WSOP is already too big though, and would most likely be a cash cow for Harrah’s. However, by the time laws are in place in the US, the window of opportunity for Harrah’s to bring the WSOP online may be long gone. They just won’t be able to hold out long enough, financially. There are already speculations that Harrah’s Las Vegas Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino may be sold. As much as Harrah’s would love to hold out on the WSOP, they would hate to have to let go of anymore properties.
Alternatively, Harrah’s may be forced to sell the online licensing rights to the WSOP to the highest bidder in order to cover losses in other areas of the company. If future quarters continue to report such devastating losses, Harrah’s will be forced to convert some of its equity into cash in order to save itself in the long run. And the WSOP name would be a hot item for any company in the online gambling industry that could afford it. Sole rights to the WSOP brand online would mean a monopoly on WSOP Internet marketing, which would be a major upset to many online poker rooms, as practically every online poker site currently profits from the tournament’s promotion.
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Written by Mathias · Filed Under news · |
