Poker’s biggest stage now has a year-round presence on the Strip, even when the cards are not in the air.
The World Series of Poker opened its flagship retail store at Paris Las Vegas, which executives say is designed to celebrate the game, its history and its role in the city that built it.
Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony featured poker legend Jack Binion alongside Caesars Entertainment and WSOP executives. Binion, son of Horseshoe Club founder Benny Binion, has been closely tied to the WSOP since its earliest days in downtown Las Vegas, where the first series was hosted in 1970.
The new 2,320-square-foot store is the largest WSOP retail space in series history, featuring more than 100 merchandise designs across apparel, accessories and collectibles. The space is anchored by a large LED installation displaying iconic moments from WSOP history, with a WSOP gold bracelet also on display in the same area as part of the visual centerpiece of the store.
WSOP Executive Business Manager Kamila Winska said the concept was built directly from the brand’s own history.
“I started looking through all these vintage photos from over 56 years of history, so we don’t need to make it up,” Winska said.
The store is designed as a walk-through of poker’s evolution. Guests enter through a desert-themed entrance referencing Nevada’s gaming roots. One side of the space reflects early WSOP history with wood finishes and saloon-style design elements, while the other highlights modern poker through the “On Felt” concept, with green-felt-inspired design and contemporary champions.
Other design elements include a Golden Horseshoe-inspired cash wrap referencing Benny Binion’s Million Dollar Display and a chandelier made of cascading poker chips inspired by the “chip and a chair” philosophy.
A major expansion centers on a New Era partnership that includes 65 hat styles and more than 90 WSOP-branded designs. Additional collaborations include Jeff Hamilton, Adidas, Black Clover and Kevin Leonel, with new merchandise rolling out throughout the summer, including the “On Felt” collection and a commemorative WSOP coin.
Winska said the goal is to connect generations of players through shared identity and emotion.
“We want people to remember that World Series of Poker is poker, and poker is World Series,” she said. “This is where legends are born. This is where dreams are dealt.”
Jack Effel, senior vice president of poker operations and World Series of Poker at Caesars Entertainment, said the store extends the brand beyond the summer series into a consistent Las Vegas presence.
“The World Series of Poker is a landmark in Las Vegas, and it has been since 1970,” he said.
The store allows visitors to engage with WSOP history even when tournaments are not running, through merchandise and visual storytelling tied to the game’s evolution, Effel said.
He pointed to the scale of the modern WSOP, which draws tens of thousands of players annually from more than 100 countries competing for hundreds of millions of dollars in prize pools.
“The WSOP gold bracelet is the gold medal of trophies,” he said. “It’s the most expensive trophy in all of sports.”
The World Series of Poker continues to operate its live tournament series in Las Vegas under Caesars Entertainment, which previously sold the WSOP brand to NSUS Group Inc. in a $500 million agreement while retaining long-term rights to host live events and maintain its Strip presence.
Contact David Danzis at ddanzis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0378. Follow @AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.
