TLDR
- WSOP’s new owner, NSUS Group Inc., introduced a secret approval process for sponsor patches at the 2026 series.
- Crypto poker sites CoinPoker and Phenom Poker were denied patches, while offshore site Americas Cardroom was approved.
- Players say no reasons were given for denials, and the rules allow instant disqualification for unapproved logos.
- The company that owns WSOP traces back to a British Virgin Islands shell company with no public ownership records.
- Solana Foundation became WSOP’s presenting sponsor in June, even as competing crypto poker brands were shut out.
The World Series of Poker changed its sponsor patch rules this year, and players are asking why some brands got approved while others did not.
The 2026 rulebook requires players to submit any logo or patch for review 24 hours before appearing at a televised table. Approval is granted at the sole discretion of tournament organizers.
Players who break the rule face disqualification and loss of all prize money. That penalty applies even if the patch was worn by mistake.
Caesars Entertainment sold WSOP in October 2024 for 500 million dollars. The buyer was NSUS Group Inc., the parent company of online poker site GGPoker.
Under the old rules, patches were mostly allowed except for cannabis and cryptocurrency brands. The new rules dropped that blanket ban and replaced it with case by case review.
Who Got Approved and Who Got Denied
Crypto poker site CoinPoker was denied a patch for player Bernhard Binder in the Bahamas last year. He later won the tournament anyway.
Phenom Poker, another crypto site, said its patch requests were also rejected. Founder Matt Valeo said no explanation was given.
ClubWPT Gold, a sweepstakes poker brand tied to the World Poker Tour, was denied as well. That brand competes with GGPoker in the online market.
Meanwhile, offshore site Americas Cardroom was approved. That site has sold satellite packages into WSOP events for three years and signed players specifically for this year’s series.
British professional Patrick Leonard, who represents CoinPoker, said he respects the rules even though he disagrees with them. He said poker sites are now less willing to invest in sponsoring players.
A Company With No Public Owner
WSOP’s parent company traces back to a holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands. That jurisdiction does not require public shareholder records.
Public filings show a director named Mansoo Kim, a South Korean national. Reporting from Korean outlets has linked the company’s roots to a Seoul based gaming firm founded in 2014.
WSOP, NSUS Group and GGPoker did not respond to detailed questions submitted last month.
The rule change came with one exception for crypto money itself. In June, Solana Foundation became WSOP’s first presenting sponsor in about fifteen years, letting players buy into tournaments using cryptocurrency.
That deal ran alongside the denial of patches from rival crypto poker brands. Crypto payments were welcomed while crypto competitors were turned away.
The 2025 series also saw a scandal that shaped this year’s rules. Two players were accused of intentionally letting one of them win to trigger a bonus tied to a sponsor brand, and both were banned for the rest of that series.
That incident led to a new rule allowing WSOP to take back winnings tied to outside payments. It also gave WSOP a reason to justify blocking that brand going forward.
No player has been disqualified under the new patch rule so far this year. The nine finalists reached the ESPN televised final table this week under the same restrictions, each limited to two approved sponsor logos.
