Rush Street Interactive (RSI) has significantly strengthened its position in the US iGaming space after acquiring well-respected poker player Phil Galfond’s Run It Once (RIO) online poker brand and technology, in a deal which also includes the professional high-stakes poker player known in the poker-world by his online poker handle “OMGClayAiken”.
The buyout, which includes Phil & his development team came to light Wednesday as Chicago-based RSI published its full-year 2021 financial results (revenue of $488.1m, a 75% year on year increase).
Galfond shuttered the Run It Once brand in late December 2021, announcing the company’s intentions to enter the legal and regulated USA online poker market:
RIO Poker created a platform that people loved, with features and innovations that the poker world was excited about, but we also heard things like ‘if only they could iterate on their software faster’ or ‘I’d move all my volume to RIO if they were bigger’. Well, now we are bigger – much bigger.
RSI is already a big player in the world of US gambling – specifically online table games, casino slots and bingo. The addition of Poker to the mix could see RIO online poker sites in states with regulated markets such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Rush Street Interactive is a casino and sportsbetting operator under under its PlaySugarHouse.com and BetRivers.com brands, which are live in thirteen U.S states as of March 2022.
Poker professional Phil Hellmuth congratulated Galfond and his team on Twitter:
Congrats to @PhilGalfond and team: hard work pays off!! As someone that holds 165,000 shares of Rush Street Interactive: nice acquisition Greg, Richard, and team!
