According to a Facebook post from the Valley National 8-Ball League Association, the World Series of Poker will relocate from the Rio to Paris and Bally’s starting in 2022. VNEA learned of the venue change after their own 2022 event, which was scheduled to take place in May 2022 at Bally’s, was unexpectedly canceled.
The VNEA is a US pool league which holds its annual World Pool Championship in Las Vegas every May, attracting approximately 6,000 attendees. Those dates appear to clash with the start of the 2022 World Series of Poker, assuming a return to the regular summer schedule.
In September 2019, the Rio Hotel & Casino, which has hosted the WSOP since 2005, was sold to a real estate investment firm. Since that transaction became public, speculation about the WSOP’s future home has led many to believe that the newly minted Caesars Convention Center will be the Series’ future home.
Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, stated that the organization currently has no comment on the 2022 WSOP venue.
Both Paris and Bally’s are located on the Las Vegas Strip and are owned by Caesars Entertainment, the parent company of the World Series of Poker. Paris has 140,000 square feet in total, including 85,204 in one ballroom. Bally’s total square footage is 175,000, with 40,000 from the Bally’s Event Center and another 39,249 from the Grand Ballroom.
The Rio has a total square footage of approximately 140,000 square feet, with the Rio Pavillion offering 55,000 people and the Amazon Room providing 39,060 sq feet.
It’s likely that the 2023 WSOP will also take place at Ballys (which is soon-to-be renamed “Horseshoe Casino”).
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