Harrah’s Sells the Rio – or Maybe It Doesn’t

If Harrah’s were the Jackson family, the Rio would be Tito.

It looks like the World Series of Poker will be moving to a new home next year – or maybe not, depending on whose word you take.

Popular poker blog Pokerati.com announced on Wednesday that the sale of the Rio, the Harrah’s property that has been home to the WSOP since it moved away from downtown Las Vegas back in 2006, was “almost 100 percent unofficially semi-confirmed” to “one of those name name and ampersand venture capital companies.” The Pokerati post also indicated that the WSOP would be moving to Planet Hollywood, which Harrah’s acquired last year, which seemed to confirm the rumors that have been flying around for months that the WSOP was finally making its way to the Las Vegas Strip.

But it didn’t take long for WSOP officials to react to the new tale of the Rio’s demise. Seth Palansky, director of communications for the WSOP, shot down the rumors yesterday, noting that planning was already underway for holding the 2011 WSOP at the Rio, including another installment of the November Nine at the Penn and Teller Theater. And the recently released Q2 2010 earnings statement for Harrah’s mentions nothing about the Rio being sold; in fact, the company lost more than $270 million last quarter, a number that would have been more than offset by the sale of such a big Las Vegas property.

So for now, it looks like the WSOP is staying put. Just don’t expect the rumors to die down; some of them have had the property being sold but Harrah’s continuing to host the venerable tournament series onsite as part of the sale, so the buzz will likely continue all the way through the next World Series of Poker at the Rio.