Caesars extends Lucien Barriere partnership

Caesars owns the rights to the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament series and signed a deal with Groupe Lucien Barriere a year ago that saw the European version of the WSOP relocate from London, where it had been staged since 2007, to the French resort town of Cannes.

In addition, last year’s agreement saw the pair launch the Barriere Poker Tour in April, which was a series of seven land-based events taking in Toulouse, Nice, Lille, Dinard, Enghien, Trouville and Bordeaux offering players the chance to win cash prizes and a seat at the main event in Cannes.

The extended deal will see the duo build on this existing relationship and expose the WSOP Europe to other regulated markets throughout the continent through the development of a proprietary online poker platform.

“The objective of Lucien Barriere Poker is to continue to advance on the French market and it will allow us to accelerate and anticipate international developments,” said Stephen Xavier, President for Lucien Barrier Poker.

The two companies revealed that they intend to deploy a platform based on technology from Lucien Barriere Poker created and developed in-house for the French market that will become a ‘world standard’ for online poker.

“Having reached an initial agreement for the WSOP Europe, we are now happy to build with Lucien Barriere Poker an online strategy through long-term co-development of a proprietary poker platform,” said Mitch Garber, Chief Executive Officer for Caesars Interactive Entertainment.

“The potential for this French technology by Lucien Barriere Poker will help us accelerate our strategy of developing our brands in the online environment in all countries where poker is or will be legal.”