Only a couple years after Caesars sold the World Series of Poker brand to GGPoker, Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta is acquiring Caesars Entertainment for $5.7 billion.
As part of the purchase, Fertitta also takes on $11.9 billion in debt. The acquisition includes Caesars’ Las Vegas Strip properties like the Horseshoe and Paris, home to the WSOP. Beyond adding Caesars properties across the country, Fertitta is back in the online gambling industry. Fertitta takes control of the company’s digital casino, poker, and sports betting operations.
In 2021, Fertitta sold Golden Nugget’s online gaming platform to DraftKings for $1.56 billion. He now acquires a large online gaming enterprise that produced earnings of $69 million in the first quarter of this year. Those figures are up from the $43 million in the same quarter of 2025.
WSOP Online & Casinos Part Of Purchase
Card players may be interested in the poker-related aspects of the deal. GGPoker parent company NSUS Group purchased the WSOP for $500 million in 2024. Caesars received a license from NSUS to continue operating the U.S.-facing WSOP-branded online poker business. The site operates in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Caesars also secured the right from NSUS to continue hosting the WSOP’s flagship live tournament series at its Las Vegas casinos for the next 20 years. The online poker platform and the home to the live WSOP on the Strip now will be part of Fertitta Entertainment if the deal is ultimately approved.
Along with the Golden Nugget casinos, the 69-year-old Texas billionaire owns more than 60 restaurant brands, the NBA’s Houston Rockets franchise, and 12.1% in Wynn Resorts.
The deal gives Fertitta a significant footprint in Sin City. His Fertitta Entertainment already owned the Golden Nugget downtown and is the biggest shareholder in the Wynn. He now takes on Caesars Palace, Paris, Horseshoe, Linq, Flamingo, Cromwell, Harrah’s, and Planet Hollywood.
Fertitta is betting big on Las Vegas after the city saw some economic uncertainty in 2025. Sin City experienced a significant downturn in visitors in 2025 but has recently seen an uptick.
“Tilman saw the potential to grab an asset that has value, from a brand perspective, and leverage that to double down on the gaming industry,” B Global consulting firm managing partner Brendan Bussmann told the Wall Street Journal.
Some Analysts Think Deal Won’t Actually Go Through
The acquisition will fold Caesars into Fertitta Entertainment’s overall holdings, meaning the gaming giant will go from a publicly traded company to part of the privately held firm.
“We take a longer-term perspective, and so we can make our investments that we think need to be made,” Fertitta Entertainment CFO Richard Liem told the Journal. “It may take time for them to come to fruition, but historically, it has worked well for us.”
The deal also includes all of Caesars’ more than 50 casinos in locations like Atlantic City, New Orleans, Virginia, Mississippi, Southern California, Illinois, other parts of Nevada, and more. Caesars executives, including CEO Tom Reeg and CFO Bret Yunker, are expected to remain with Fertitta Entertainment when the deal is complete, according to Reuters.
As part of the agreement, Caesars shareholders would receive $31 per share in cash, a 49% premium over the stock’s value on Feb. 25. The deal still allows Caesars, which had also seen interest from hedge fund manager and activist shareholder Carl Icahn, to consider other offers through July 11.
Caesars was the target of an acquisition in 2020. El Dorado Resorts acquired the company at that time for $7.2 billion in cash. It also assumed more than $10 billion in debt.
Along with running his gaming and hospitality company, Fertitta serves as the US ambassador to Italy and San Marino. Experts are divided on whether the acquisition can clear regulatory hurdles. The new merged company would own a large part of the Las Vegas and nationwide casino industry.
Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon set chances of completing the deal at low. However, others pointed to Fertitta’s role in the Trump administration as a positive to seeing the purchase get approved.
Other Recent Casino Deals
Las Vegas has seen quite a few casino deals in recent years. MGM Resorts sold the real estate for Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand in 2020.
The company also sold the Aria casino and CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip in 2021. The move was part of MGM’s transition to an “asset-light” business strategy. MGM sold the underlying real estate, but retained ownership of casino operations. Thus, they are paying rent to operate on Las Vegas Blvd.
In 2023, Realty Income Corporation, The Monthly Dividend Company, and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust entered into a similar deal by investing $950 million in the Bellagio.
