Poker player Jesse Lonis agreed to wager $2,000 with fellow poker player Mikita Badziakouski that Lonis will win the World Series of Poker Main Event.
Badziakouski offered +50,000 odds, so if Lonis does prevail in the competition, he’ll get $1 million from the bet. Lonis is the reigning GPI Player of the Year.
I booked a bet $2,000 at 500/1 to win the @WSOP main event. Payout would be $1,000,000. How could I say no! If I lose 2k I won’t remember in a couple of days. If I win the bet I’ll remember the rest of my life. Mikita Badziakouski is the one that booked the bet. Legend 🦍😂
— Jesse Lonis (@JesseLonis) July 8, 2025
Key takeaways
- Poker player Jesse Lonis placed a $2,000 bet with a fellow poker player on Lonis to win the WSOP Main Event.
- If he wins, he'll collect a $1 million payout after agreeing to +50,000 odds on his success.
- The WSOP Main Event is the third largest in history, although it fell short of 10,000 entries for the first time in three years.
The WSOP Main Event 2025 features a $90,535,500 prize pool, with 1,461 finishers walking away with a cash prize. The event winner earns $10 million and a WSOP bracelet. Second place takes away $6 million, while any player on the final table earns a minimum $1 million.
Attendance for the WSOP Main Event dipped compared to the record-breaking number of entries in 2024, when 10,112 people joined the competition. In 2025, 9,735 players registered for the tournament, the first time attendance fell below 10,000 in three years.
Still, the attendance number is the third highest in WSOP history and is still above the record 8,773 set in 2006, broken in 2023 when the competition reached 10,000.
Lonis is still in the event, finishing Day 2 with 133,400 in chips. The final table will be played at Horseshoe Las Vegas on July 15.
Vegas events still attract attendance despite drops in 2025
The WSOP Main Event is back on the Las Vegas Strip, and even with lower attendance than previous competitions, it still attracted many people. This continues a trend of conflicting data about Vegas' appeal and ability to draw tourists.
Las Vegas casinos suffered a poor start to 2025, their worst since March 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Operators blamed lower visitor numbers. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported a 7.8% year-on-year visitor decline in March.
However, March Madness caused a tourism boom in Sin City, building up into and peaking in April. Other events, such as the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, generated $934 million in economic impact in Southern Nevada.
The WSOP Main Event numbers show strong interest in Las Vegas as a centerpiece of gambling events.
