Rapper's Endorsement Deal With Gambling Site Not Actually Worth $400 Million: Report'Soulja Boy' Puts Name Behind New Gaming Company |
|
American rapper and businessman Soulja Boy has signed an endorsement deal with a group called World Poker Fund Holdings that could be worth as much as $400 million, but it’s nowhere close to that right now.
Forbes reported that his deal with WPFH, which describes itself as a “developer and operator of online and event-based social gaming platforms and brands,” includes stock and revenue-sharing, and isn’t all cash.
The rapper generated tons of speculation when he Tweeted vaguely on May 1 that he had signed a $400 million deal.
WPFH plans to launch a site called CelebrityWorld.com, which also has backers such as Justin Bieber and Floyd Mayweather. The retired boxer is well-known as a high-stakes Las Vegas gambler. The company called it a “celebrity owned social gaming site.”
Largely thanks to Facebook, social casino games have grown to a $3.4 billion market and they could be worth $4.4 billion by 2017, according to Eilers Research.
“I invest in things I understand," the 25-year-old rapper said in a statement. "I enjoy music, and of course gaming. Being an influencer is a form of currency. Having portfolio diversification is critical if you want to be an effective brand ambassador. With regards to World Poker Fund, I believe in its strategy, its team, the vision, and management’s ability to target its financial goals.”
WPFH owns 49 percent of software company UEG, which is behind the gambling site of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, which earlier this year had a federal court decision pave the way for it to offer real-money online gambling from its reservation to people overseas. Its free-play online casino games will be available to people in the United States.
The court decision is also said to have paved the way for online gambling to be available on flights and cruises, an opportunity that the tribe is eying for “phase three” of its launch.
Forbes reported the UEG itself owns 49 percent of the tribe’s gaming rights. The tribe, which has brick-and-mortar gambling within Oklahoma, launched the first phase of its gaming platform earlier this month.
According to CNN Money, WPFH currently has a market capitalization of around $52 million. For comparison, Caesars Interactive Entertainment, which is the dominant player in the social casino gaming space, is entertaining offers worth around $4 billion.
Social casino gaming has flourished in the absence of legal real-money online casino gambling in America, which is currently allowed in just three states.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
