Posts Tagged ‘harrah’s’
WSOP Parent Harrah’s Cancels Planned IPO
November 19th, 2010
And things were looking so bright just a month ago…
Harrah’s Entertainment, the parent company of the World Series of Poker, has canceled a planned initial public offering of stock less than one month after announcing the move.
The IPO was intended to raise more than $500 million that would pay for a number of projects, including the completion of the unfinished 660-room Octavius Tower at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and an investment in the joint development of two of the four casinos approved last year by voters in Ohio. Some analysts had pegged the value of the proposed IPO at more than $1 billion last month when it was first announced, but either that number was either way too large or the market has shifted dramatically since late October – Harrah’s canceled the IPO over fears that it would be priced too high to bring in the kind of money the company needs.
There’s no word yet on what the company plans to do about the projects it had intended to complete, or whether it will attempt another IPO at any point in the near future. However, at least one private investor is planning to pull its backing of the company – Paulson & Co., a hedge fund which accepted more than 30 million shares of Harrah’s this summer in exchange for giving the company a cash infusion, is planning to sell off its share. At least Harrah’s still has the WSOP and its long-term contract with ESPN.
Interest Adds Just $459 to November Nine Prize Money
November 4th, 2010
The 2010 WSOP November Nine just got $459 richer.
There are just two days to go until the November Nine sit down for the final table of the 2010 WSOP main event. On Saturday afternoon, they’ll start playing poker for a shot at the 1st place prize of $8,944,138. Or so we all thought…
The reality is that the prize pool for the nine finalists just got bigger. A lot bigger.
The surprising increase comes through the miracle of interest. After all, the 7,319 entrants in the main event paid their fees way back in the summer. And since the prize money has yet to be awarded, that means the good folks at Harrah’s, the company that runs the WSOP, have been sitting on all that cash as they await the results of the final table. To keep things all fair and legal, Harrah’s keeps the prize pool in a fund administered by Goldman Sachs. And so, that fund accrues some serious interest.
So how much bigger are those prizes? According to the WSOP press release (PDF link), the total remaining prize pool for the November Nine was $21,726,230 back when they set up the fund. And now it’s gone up to a whopping $21,726,689.
That’s right… in three months, that $21 million bucks racked up a grand total of $459 bucks in interest. And no, that number isn’t missing any zeroes.
Somehow, Harrah’s managed to stash their money in a fund with the world’s crappiest interest rate. And sure, the winner is getting over eight million bucks, so a few more thousand one way or another isn’t going to make a huge difference. But adding .000023% interest (or something. I can’t do actual math) for three months is a little silly.
For the record, the first place prize is now $172 more than it was. The 8th place winnings rose by a whopping five bucks… which should almost pay for a day’s parking at the Rio.
WSOP Owner Harrah’s Going Public With IPO
October 20th, 2010
Perhaps 2009 was a bit optimistic for completing the Octavius Tower…
Once upon a time, Harrah’s Entertainment was a public corporation. Then two private equity firms, Apollo and TPG Capital, purchased the company for an incredible $30.7 billion, making Harrah’s stock unavailable for public trade for the last three years. Now those two firms are taking the company public again in the hope that they can raise enough money to complete projects in Ohio and Las Vegas.
In an filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week, Harrah’s disclosed that it plans to use the proceeds from its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to complete the 660-room Octavius Tower at Caesars Palace and develop a retail and entertainment complex next door to the Flamingo in Las Vegas. The company also wants to invest in the joint development of two Ohio casinos with Rock Gaming LLC, a company owned by Dan Gilbert, who also owns the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Harrah’s would operate those two casinos, located in Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Harrah’s estimates that it needs to raise about $575 million to finance those ventures. That shouldn’t be too difficult a figure to reach – some analysts expect that the Harrah’s IPO could be worth as much as $1 billion since the Las Vegas tourism market appears to be on the rebound. Whatever figure the IPO ends up being worth, the fate of the WSOP shouldn’t be affected in the least since Apollo and TPG will retain their controlling interest in the company.
Harrah’s Announces New WSOP Circuit Stop in Oklahoma
September 3rd, 2010
Poker is booming on Oklahoma, and now Choctaw Casino is in on the action, too.
With a full month of poker in London dominating the international tournament schedule, the WSOP Circuit wisely scheduled a break between its recently completed first stop at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa and the second stop at Horseshoe Southern Indiana. But the tour is still making news thanks to a recently announced addition to its 2010-2011 schedule.
The newest stop on the fully revamped WSOP Circuit will run at Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Okla., from January 6-25, 2011, in between the Regional Championship at Harrahs Atlantic City and the smaller stop at Harrah’s Tunica in Mississippi. The Choctaw Casino Resort recently underwent a $300 million expansion that included a new 30-table poker room housed on its own executive level within the casino.
The WSOPC stop at Choctaw marks the first time that a Circuit event will be held at a casino not owned by Harrah’s. “After visiting the property, it was a must that we brought a WSOP Circuit stop to Choctaw Casino Resort,” said WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart. “This is a huge poker market that has clamored for high stakes tournament poker and we’re ecstatic to be hosting a WSOP Circuit in this gorgeous property in Durant come January.”
A total of 10 gold WSOP Circuit rings will be up for grabs in Oklahoma in January, including one in the Main Event that will come with a seat in the WSOP National Championship. With thousands of poker players within driving distance in Oklahoma and Texas, the new stop should have no trouble becoming an overnight success. Harrah’s is also promising to add one more stop to this year’s WSOP Circuit schedule soon, so there should be a bit more news before the schedule is locked in for good.
Revamped Atlantic City Poker Bad Beat Jackpot Hits
August 27th, 2010
Caesars Atlantic City was the first poker room to trigger the new bad beat jackpot.
The four Atlantic City poker rooms owned by Harrah’s began pooling their bad beat jackpots on Wednesday morning, giving players at each room the chance to win cash if the jackpot were hit at any of them. The jackpot started at $524,045; just one day later it’s been reset to $100,000 after paying out serious cash to everyone playing at a Harrah’s poker table in A.C.
Sheryl Wallace, of Auburndale, Fla., showed a straight flush in diamonds in a Caesars Atlantic City hold’em game at 11:16 a.m. Thursday, normally plenty good enough to win the pot. But John Sweet Jr., of South Brunswick Township, New Jersey, showed a royal flush to beat Wallace’s hand and trigger the $535,459.60 jackpot. Wallace received $163,343, or 30 percent of the jackpot, for her losing hand, while Sweet got $109,797, or 20 percent, for his royal flush in addition to the pot.
The biggest difference between the old jackpot rules and the new one was that the remaining 50 percent of the jackpot was distributed to everybody else playing at poker tables at any Atlantic City Harrah’s property. Each player in a Harrah’s-owned poker room at the time, regardless of the stakes of their game, received $2,705 when Wallace and Sweet triggered the jackpot.
The change to the bad beat jackpot should be pretty good advertising to keep players at the poker tables in Atlantic City. And given the city’s continued misfortunes in recent years, that sort of advertising couldn’t come at a better time.
Harrah’s Revamps Atlantic City Poker Bad Beat Jackpots
August 25th, 2010
The new bad beat jackpot may increase traffic at Harrah’s-owned A.C. poker rooms.
It just got a little easier to win bad beat jackpot money in Atlantic City. Yesterday morning Harrah’s debuted a revamped bad beat jackpot that will pay players at the tables at any of the company’s four casinos in the East Coast gambling resort town. The company also changed the criteria for triggering the jackpot to make it easier to hit as the pool grows larger.
Players at Harrah’s Atlantic City, Bally’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City and the Showboat poker rooms will all contribute to the new progressive bad beat jackpot. Any player who takes a qualifying bad beat will get 30% of the jackpot, the player who wins the pot will get 20% of the pool, and the rest of the money will be distributed among every player at the tables in any of the participating poker rooms when the hand is dealt. To qualify for the jackpot, a player must have four queens beaten. But for every week that passes where the jackpot isn’t hit, the qualifying hand will move down by one rank (e.g. if nobody hits the jackpot for three weeks, the qualifying hand will become four nines).
Hands eligible for the new bad beat jackpot were first dealt yesterday morning, with the pool starting at $524,045. That’s almost as big as the previous record bad beat jackpot for all of Atlantic City, a $553,958 pool hit back in January at Caesars that also set the record for the largest live poker bad beat jackpot in history. Needless to say, the new arrangement in Harrah’s poker rooms in Atlantic City puts them in position to start setting some records pretty quickly. And given the new competition from neighboring Pennsylvania and the annual losses that have become routine for Atlantic City casinos, the changes probably couldn’t have come at a better time.
181 Players Nominated for Poker Hall of Fame
August 23rd, 2010
Last year’s Poker Hall of Fame Inductee, Mike Sexton.
Nominations are currently underway for the Poker Hall of Fame class of 2010, with 181 names submitted for consideration. Harrah’s who runs the WSOP and the PHOF, allows anyone to be nominated just by filling in an online form, though actually being voted in is a little tricker.
Nominations have been accepted since July 1st, and through August 31st. The poker playing public votes on their choice of a nominee, with Harrah’s announcing the top 10 vote getters on September 1st. At that point, the nominating committee will review the names and make a determination as to who will be enshrined in the hall this year.
To qualify, not only does a player need to receive enough votes, they also have to meet a five point criteria:
- A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
- Played for high stakes
- Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
- Stood the test of time
- For non-players, they must have contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible lasting and positive results.
Last year, commentator/player Mike Sexton was the lone inductee, while Tom Dwan was eliminated from contention owing to the fact he has not yet stood the test of time. The ceremony to induct the new members of the PHOF will take place during the November Nine weekend at the Rio in Las Vegas.
Harrah’s Sells the Rio – or Maybe It Doesn’t
August 6th, 2010
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.
Strong Attendance at WSOP Circuit Bayou Poker Challenge
May 12th, 2010
Once again, it’s poker time at Harrah’s New Orleans.
After a long year of stops where the locals simply didn’t turn out in the numbers organizers had hoped for, the World Series of Poker Circuit is ending its season on a solid note in New Orleans with the Bayou Poker Challenge.
After a week of poker, attendance at Bayou Poker Challenge events is up 16 percent over 2009 numbers; 1,389 players have turned up for the first five events at Harrah’s New Orleans compared to the 1,197 who played last year. And last year’s numbers were up from the previous year, making this year’s turnout even more impressive. The biggest field so far came in the opening event, a $340 no-limit hold’em event that drew 547 players. Ryan Eriquezzo walked away with the win and the gold champion’s ring, not to mention $34,656 in prize money.
There are a total of 19 events on the schedule in New Orleans, including a $5,150 Pot Limit Omaha event, which gets started this Friday, and the $5,150 Championship Event, which begins on Monday, May 17th. In between are a number of events bringing some needed variety to the WSOPC, including a pot-limit Omaha hi/lo event, a heads-up tournament, and a mixed-game event.
The New Orleans stop has long been one of the most popular on the WSOP Circuit. The 2006 Bayou Poker Challenge main event was one of the last WSOPC events to be televised on ESPN before the cable network decided to focus on showing only WSOP events instead, and one of the most memorable as well. Gavin Smith and Allie Prescott had a prop bet worth seven figures riding on one of the two winning the tournament; Smith made it to heads-up with the chip lead, only to see Peter Feldman catch a few minor miracles and seize the title instead.
Harrah’s Selling the Rio, Home of the WSOP
April 27th, 2010
The Rio, home of the WSOP, is on the auction block.
There could be some major changes in store for the World Series of Poker, now that Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company and the owner of the WSOP, is selling the venerable tournament series’ home right out from under it.
After 34 years at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, Harrah’s moved the WSOP to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in 2005. From a historical standpoint it didn’t make much sense, but in terms of growth it was a solid choice. Of all the properties that Harrah’s owns in Vegas – and sometimes it seems like they own at least three-quarters of the Strip – the Rio has the most parking and the most convention center space. And that’s been a boon to the Series, which has seen steady growth in its overall numbers grow ever since moving away from its downtown birthplace.
The Rio does need some work – at 20 years old, it’s starting to show its age. And it’s located off the Strip, making it a journey for the majority of tourists who visit Vegas. But if you’re looking for a cute investment property, the Rio might be just what you’re after; the current $500 million offers are far below the $888 million Harrah’s paid for it in 1999, and there’s nearly endless room for upgrades. (Might we suggest starting by scrapping that godawful Show in the Sky?)
If the Rio goes, there’s no official line on where the World Series of Poker might land. But with Planet Hollywood now in the Harrah’s portfolio along with Caesars Palace, Paris, Bally’s, and the Flamingo, the company now has a lot of room on the Strip to house the world’s biggest poker tournament series.
