WPT sold for $78 million

The World Poker Tour has been sold to Element Partners, LLC for a reported $78 million.

Element Partners acquired the WPT from Allied Esports Entertainment in a deal that was officially announced on Tuesday. As part of the deal Element Partners will pay Allied Esports $68,250,000 upfront, and the remaining $10 million will be paid over three years from a guaranteed five percent share of entry fees from WPT tournaments.

The deal was approved by Allied Esports’s board of directors, and it is expected to close in a few weeks once it receives approval from Allied Esports shareholders.

In a video released on Twitter, WPT CEO Adam Pliska said, “We think this deal will allow the World Poker Tour to do a number of things that it’s always wanted to do. For myself and my management team, we’re still here and it’s business as usual. We look forward to this exciting opportunity and the next chapter of the World Poker Tour. We look forward to continuing to bring the best in poker around the world.”

This is not the first time the WPT has changed hands since it was founded in 2002 by Steve Liscomb and Lyle Berman. It was first sold in 2009 to PartyGaming for $12.3 million. Following a merger between PartyGaming and bwin in 2011 WPT was sold again in 2015 to Ourgame International Holdings Ltd. For $35 million.

The WPT was sold again in 2018. This time Black Ridge Acquisition Corp paid $213.8 million to buy both the WPT and Allied Esports International Inc.; merging them into Allied Esports Entertainment.

Only Allied Esports Entertainment’s poker assets were part of the announced deal with Element Partners. It is unknown if the current joint ventures between the WPT and Allied Esports will continue. For example, the WPT has been using the HyperX Esports Area to host and broadcast final tables for their live events.