On December 31 2021, Phil Galfond made a hint that many people are recently coming to terms with. The poker pro who has been in the poker industry for a long time is also the founder of Run It Once Poker. The hint which was made at the close of the year insinuated that the online poker site would be closed. Many must have thought that he was calling it quits on his project but that is far from the truth.
Galfond was talking about shutting down a business because it was planned for takeover by another brand. Run it once would now operate as an integrated part of the Rush Street network. His company would cease to exist as of January 3, 2022 after it had been operational for many years. The poker champion had deliberately created a poker site that all manner of poker players were comfortable with.
After the wave of the pandemic had cleared, it was discovered that business on the site had declined a great deal. It is based on these performance figures that Galfond was forced into making the decision to close it down. With the poker platform out of the way, the only thing he was left to do was to concentrate on growing his Run It Once poker training site. In his own words, Galfond referred to the new path that Run It Once Poker was taking as a legal and regulated gambling market in the US.
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Galfond on Social Media
Confirming the acquisition on s Twitter account, Galfond revealed the details of the deal. He stated that the poker platform, the entire team that operated it including himself had been taken over by Rush Street Interactive. The plan was that the new owner would solidify and enhance the performance of the platform by integrating it with theirs.
Even though the announcement was made on March 2, Galfond is quick to let his fans in on new information. His team had interacted with many other potential partners in the past 18 months and was happy with RSI as a choice. The two companies share a common set of values; transparency, fairness, integrity and honesty. This is felt not only by players but by everyone who drives the vision of the brands.
In his message on his social media posts, Galfond described RIO as a platform that attracted players due to its unique and lovely features. He points out that his team began aware of some of the comments made by users to improve the service. Other people loved the entire RIO platform but were concerned about the size of the site.
Galfond is now happy to announce to fans that the platform they are very fond of is bigger and better. The creating team will be retained but will work together with an experienced tech team to create something that will take the New Jersey gambling market by storm. Looking into the future, this poker guru is hopeful for a prosperous future in business.
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Rush Street – The Brand
If you have been an active bettor in the US market for at least a month then you must be familiar with the RSI brand. Compared to other players in the Garden State market, Rush Street Interactive is among the youngest. Having been launched 7 years ago as a social gaming site, this US iGaming and sports betting brand is a market giant. RSI has partnered with many stakeholders in the gambling industry most notably SugarHouse and Rivers Casinos.
The first real-money product that RSI launched in the New Jersey market was PlaySugarHouse which was launched in 2016. After two years of serving the NJ gambling economy, the brand expanded to offering online sportsbook services. After New Jersey, RSI scaled to other cities in the United States before growing roots in Latin America and Colombia.
Apart from its operations in the Garden State, RSI runs live casino operations in Connecticut, West Virginia, Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania. All operations are licensed by the respective state authorities in the areas within which they operate.
Analyzing Galfond’s News Details
Suppose Galfond had not posted a tweet to break the news of the acquisition; NJ online poker fans would probably have gotten the news from the 2021 full-year report. Apart from news of mergers and acquisitions, the 2021 financial report also revealed the sales numbers. Revenue gained over the period was $488M which was a year-on-year increase of 75%. Based on the same margins, it has been estimated that the 2022 revenue will be in the range of $580M to $630M.
It is interesting to note that there were some new markets featured in the 2021 financials that were non-existent in 2020. Arizona and Louisiana are some of the additional markets that helped to plump the 2021 revenue. Within the same year, RSI signed a deal to launch the setting up of a retail sportsbook inside the Hall of Fame Village located in Canton, Ohio.
In markets that are outside the United States, RSI geared up for an iGaming launch for the gambling enthusiasts of Ontario. There was also a partnership that the company signed with Grupo Multimedios in Mexico as the other party. The plan is to open up a sportsbook and online casino before the end of 2022.
In the acquisition deal involving Run It Once Poker, RSI onboarded the team for a value of $5.8M. The long-term benefit of this deal is that the online operator will now be able to expand into multiple markets within the US.
Final Thoughts
A good product has definitely been acquired by an equally good operator but it is still too early to see changes. Critiques and fans alike have their eyes on the new formation to see what transpires within the next few months.
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* New customers only. 100% match bonus based
on first deposit of up to $500.
