WSOP Announces Bookend Dates for 2025 World Series of Poker
As the World Series of Poker was wrapping its 2024 WSOP Paradise series in the Bahamas, the organization announced the bookend dates and general Main Event information for WSOP 2025 in Las Vegas.
The announcement came from the World Series of Poker and Caesars Entertainment, though the latter recently sold the WSOP to NSUS Group, parent company of GGPoker. The press release did not mention GGPoker but did list GGPoker and Caesars contacts for press inquiries.
Mark the Calendar
The 2025 WSOP, which will be the 56th annual World Series of Poker, will return to the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas properties next summer. The connected properties on the Las Vegas Strip will again use their ballroom and other spaces to host the largest poker festival in the world.
The initial announcement provided the following information:
- 2025 WSOP will start May 27 and end July 16
- 2025 WSOP Main Event will begin on July 2 and conclude with July 15-16 final table
The full schedule will become public in “early 2025,” and tournaments that will return include the Mystery Millions, Millionaire Maker, and Seniors Championship.
WSOP Senior Vice President of Poker Operations Jack Effel said, “Building on last year’s triumphs and familiar faces winning WSOP bracelets, we are excited to see who will expand their legacy or become a new legend by passing poker’s ultimate test in the game’s most iconic arena.”
Under New Management
On August 1, 2024, Caesars Entertainment officially announced that GGPoker parent company NSUS Group bought the World Series of Poker for $500M. On October 29, Caesars announced that the deal was done. NSUS paid $250M in cash and $250M in a promissory note due in five years.
Per the details of the agreement, Caesars will keep the right to host WSOP live tournament series at its Las Vegas casinos for 20 years. Caesars will also continue to run WSOP Online as an online poker business in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania “for the foreseeable future” and “subject to certain exceptions.” Poker rooms in Caesars properties will keep WSOP branding and continue to host WSOP Circuit series.
As for the management team, Ty Stewart will transition to CEO of NSUS’ new WSOP subsidiary. Gregory Chochon will become the COO, and Erik Eidissen will be the Communications Manager. There was no mention of Jack Effel transitioning to NSUS.
What does all of this mean for the actual running of the 2025 WSOP, WSOP Circuit, and WSOP Online? It appears that it means little at this point, as nothing in the overall operations will change. There will likely be much more GGPoker branding, more online poker satellites on GGPoker for live WSOP events, and perhaps some new faces at WSOP events from NSUS’ management. However, the 2025 WSOP announcement contained none of that and came only from WSOP and Caesars, so time will tell if there will be any notable or noticeable changes heading to the 2025 World Series of Poker.
