Federated Sports + Gaming acquires Heartland Poker Tour
A new poker tournament planning its inaugural stop later this year at the Palms has acquired a Midwest-based poker company that is one of the largest independent producers of poker content on television.
Los Angeles-based Federated Sports + Gaming acquired Heartland Poker Tour for an undisclosed price. The Fargo, N.D., company has staged nearly 90 events since 2005, including stops at Red Rock Resort, Golden Nugget and Reno, hosted more than 81,500 entrants, awarding more than $28.6 million in prize money, and producing more than 170 hours of television content.
Federated Sports + Gaming Chairman Jeffrey Pollack said the tour is one of the poker industry’s success stories.
“In a relatively short period of time, the Heartland Poker Tour has firmly established itself as an important national brand with a passionate, loyal player base,” said Pollack, the former commissioner of the Caesars Entertainment Corp.-owned World Series of Poker.
Federated Sports + Gaming kicks off its first season in August at the Palms. The tournament will have four events in August, September, December and January and will include 200 invited live tournament poker players.
The four main events will feature different formats of no-limit hold’em. Each event week will include a pro-am event, a charity tournament, and a $20,000 buy-in rake-free main event.
Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.