Page 21 - July 2012 • Southern California Gaming Guide

July 2012 Gaming News (Continued)
TWorldSeriesofPoker® $1MillionBuy-InTournamentBenefitsONEDROPTM
he World Series of Poker® (WSOP) added a new $1 million buy-in poker tournament as part of the 43rd Annual World Series of Poker on July 1st to bene t ONE DROPTM, a non-governmental organization aiming to ght poverty worldwide by supporting access to water and raising each
and everyone’s awareness of water-related issues.
The BIG ONE for ONE DROP tournament is expected to generate one of the largest prize-pools in tournament poker outside of the WSOP Main Event, and award the winner millions of dollars and a specially-designed WSOP platinum bracelet.
ONE DROP has received commitments from 30 participants so far. ey include Guy Laliberté, Chair of ONE DROP and founder of Cirque du Soleil; Bobby Baldwin, four-time WSOP gold bracelet winner and President & CEO City Center Group; Phil Ru n, Owner, Treasure Island Resort; poker professionals Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Tom Dwan and Tony Guoga. Quebec’s Casinos and a European group intends to o er satellites as well, plus prominent businessmen will also join, in addition to
Andy Beal. Caesars Entertainment also intends to o er two additional entries. One will go to the winner of a Mega Satellite, while the other will come from a yet-to-be- determined promotion.
“We are proud to align the planet’s premiere poker event with the foundation created by one of our generation’s most creative entrepreneurs, Guy Laliberté, to help make the world a healthier place,” said Gary Loveman, Caesars Entertainment Corporation’s chairman, president and chief executive o cer.
“We agree with ONE DROP that water is
one of the most important issues of this century,
and this tournament was created to take advantage
of our infrastructure and resources to help ONE DROP ful ll its important mandate,” said Mitch Garber, CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment.
e tournament will take place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on July 1st, and will be structured as a three-day tournament. e event will take a maximum of 48 players. Final funds are expected
to be due 14 days prior to the event commencing. Subject to the rules of the tournament, anyone age 21 or older is eligible as long as they have the $1 million entry fee. 11.1%
of the tournament buy-in will be donated to ONE DROP,with$888,889goingtowardstheprize
pool.
“Since its creation, ONE DROP has
reached out to millions of people to support access to water and raise each
and everyone’s awareness of water- related issues. And today, knowing that one person dies from a water-borne disease every 20 seconds, I urge everyone
to do even more,” said Guy Laliberté. “We are looking forward to e BIG ONE for ONE DROP as a creative and innovative solution to fund ONE DROP projects that help ght
poverty by supporting access to water worldwide.”
ESPN intends to televise this event as part of its coverage of the 43rd Annual World Series of Poker. e tournament is expected to pay out a record 20% of the
eld — double the typical structure.
poker
tournament
payout
JULY 2012
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
PAGE 21