Some of this information emerged at the beginning of March. This week, GGPoker made it official with a press release. GGPoker and the World Series of Poker partnered to put together an online poker room that will launch in Ontario, Canada.
Early March Launch
The announcement showed that the two brands are more intertwined than ever. The online poker room will be WSOP.ca, putting the World Series of Poker brand on the GGPoker Network software. It plans to launch in early April.
The site will only be available to people located within the province of Ontario, Canada. However, anyone in Ontario who already has a GGPoker account can transfer their accounts and contents to the new WSOP site. With the help of geolocation, GGPoker will identify those players and provide the instructions on how to download a software update and automatically transfer the funds to that new Ontario-only site. Those players will receive all of the perks and can participate in the promotions as if they are new players.
Players will be able to play WSOP tournaments and satellites. Further, they will automatically be enrolled in the Caesars Rewards loyalty program. This will be valid at any Caesars property in North America, including the two casinos – Bally’s and Paris – that will host the 2022 WSOP in Las Vegas this summer.
The new Ontario WSOP site will also run qualifiers for the 2022 WSOP.
Deepening Relationship
Many players will remember a years-long relationship between the WSOP and 888poker. That site was the official online poker sponsor of the World Series of Poker and ran official online satellites for the live events. During the pandemic, everything changed.
The WSOP decided – as many live poker operators did – to put live events online during the pandemic. That 2020 year was the first that put GGPoker and the WSOP together. GGPoker ran the online bracelet events that year…and that relationship blossomed from there.
Even so, it appeared that the WSOP was solidly together with 888poker software in the US market. That was and still is the platform for the WSOP sites in Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
However, that partnership did not extend into Canada. This Ontario site will put the WSOP on GGPoker software.
It is not entirely surprising. The WSOP has been incorporating more of GGPoker into its events since their first 2020 online games. The 2021 WSOP offered the proprietary GGPoker Flip & Go tournament format as a live bracelet event. GGPoker maintained a presence at the Rio throughout that World Series. And now, the WSOP will enter the new segregated Canadian market with GGPoker.
What prompted the slow breakup with 888poker and the blossoming relationship with GGPoker? The common denominator seems to be GGPoker’s lead ambassador, Daniel Negreanu. He was one of the first pros to sign on to represent GGPoker in late 2021, about six months after he ended his dozen-year relationship with PokerStars.
And Negreanu is a native of Ontario, Canada. He even talked about it in the press release.
“As a proud Ontario native, I’m thrilled that poker’s two greatest brands have come together to launch WSOP.ca and offer the Ontario poker community the perfect place to play online. You’ll be seeing exclusive WSOP rewards and tournaments running on GGPoker’s amazing app – what’s not to love about that?”
Launch Date
GGPoker did not give an official launch date but mentioned early April.
Many entities in the new competitive online poker market will launch on or around the official iGaming Ontario launch date of April 4.
https://twitter.com/iGamingOntario/status/1487143892961136654?s=20&t=5heOoMEqTx22SW1Lr0J5jA
Considering this is the first online collaboration of this kind for GGPoker and WSOP, as well as the first of this new market in general, there may be some glitches or delays. This is to be expected for any site launching in the new realm.
There is also the rather important detail of signing a final operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. GGPoker revealed that it hadn’t yet done that.
Players must be located within Ontario to play. Geolocation software will enable all sites – poker rooms, online casinos, and sports betting sites – to ensure that players are physically in Ontario when playing.
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