World Series of Poker

The fees and licences bring in over a million dollars to Harrah's. Many mosques will sponsor iftar (literally: break fast) meals after sundown for the community to come and end their day's fasting collectively. Licensees include Activision (video games for different plaforms such as Nintendo's GameCube, Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation 2 and PC featuring computer generated versions of stars like Ferguson among others), and products made by different companies ranging from chip sets, playing cards, hand held games and clothing like caps and shirts. If one breaks the fast through consensual sexual intercourse, the trangressor must make up for the day by fasting for sixty consecutive days. Besides the Harrah's properties and ESPN, major sponsors have included Miller Brewing's "Milwaukee's Best" brand of beers, Pepsi's SoBe Adreneline Rush energy drink (sponsors of the 2005 TOC), Helene Curtis' Degree brand of anti-perspirant/deodorant, Card Player magazine, and GlaxoSmithKline/Bayer's Levitra erectile dysfunction medicine are all official corporate sponsors. If, however, one intentionally breaks his fast, he must continue fasting for the remainder of the day but then make up for the entire day later. Like any event or sports league, the WSOP also has corporate sponsors and licensed products, which like any leagues or events, pay fees to market themselves as an official sponsor and/or licensee and exclusively use the WSOP insigina and cross-promote with their events. If one does not fit into one of the exempt categories and breaks his fast out of forgetfulness, the fast is still valid.

If the limit of 8,000 players buying in for $10,000 each is reached, the first prize is estimated to be $10 million as well as a special bracelet different than the others. If one's condition is permanent or present for an extended amount of time, one may make up for the fast by feeding a needy person for every day missed. The Rio will again host all 2006 WSOP major events, begining on June 25 with satellite events and formally start the next day with the annual Casino Employee tournament, and will feature the TOC on June 28 and 29, 2006, along with the various events leading up to the main event, which will be held from July 28 until August 10. If one's condition preventing fasting is only temporary, one is required to make up for the days missed after the month of Ramadan is over and before the next Ramadan arrives. A second event, scheduled to be held at Harrah's New Orleans, Louisiana property, is in limbo due to damage that it also suffered in said hurricane.). Other individuals for whom it is usually considered acceptable not to fast are those in battle, and travelers who intended to spend fewer than five days away from home. (One event, that was scheduled for Biloxi, Mississippi was cancelled after the Grand Casino Biloxi, which was scheduled to host the event, suffered major damage from Hurricane Katrina. According to hadith, observing the Ramadan fast is not allowed for menstruating women.

During a break in the final table of the 2005 Main Event on July 16, Harrah's announced that eleven properties — including the recently added Bally's and Caesar's properites — would host 2005-06 WSOP Circuit events that started on August 11 in Tunica, Mississippi. For example, diabetics and nursing or pregnant women usually are not expected to fast. Mike "The Mouth" Matusow won the first prize of $1 million (US), and all the players at the final table were guaranteed a minimum of $25,000 for the eighth and ninth place finishers. According to Qur'an, if fasting would be dangerous to people's health, such as to people with an illness or medical condition, and sometimes elderly people, they are excused. The 2005 TOC, made up of the top twenty qualifying players at each circuit event, along with the final table from the 2005 Main Event and the winners of nine or more bracelets (Hellmuth, Chan and Doyle Brunson) would participate in the revamped TOC at Caesar's Palace. However, if puberty is delayed, fasting becomes obligatory for males and females after a certain age. Starting in 2005, the WSOP began a tournament "circuit" at Harrah's-owned properties in the United States where in addition to the $10,000 buy-in tournament at each site, qualifying players became eligible for a revamped Tournament of Champions. Children before the onset of puberty are not required to fast, though some do.

It also added a made-for-television $2 million "freeroll" invitational "Tournament of Champions" (TOC) event won by Annie Duke as a "winner-take-all" event. Fasting during Ramadan is not obligatory for several groups for whom it would be excessively problematic. In 2004, Harrah's Entertainment purchased Binion's Horseshoe, renaming it just "Binion's" and announced that the 2005 Series events would be held at the Harrah's-owned Rio Hotel and Casino, located just off the Las Vegas Strip, with the final two days of the main event held downtown at Binion's in celebration of the centennial of the founding of Las Vegas. The act of fasting is said to redirect the heart away from worldly activities and its purpose being to cleanse your inner soul, and free it of harm. Subtracting the $10,000 buy-ins, over $47 million was won by 560 players in the event. The fast is an exacting act of deeply personal worship in which Muslims seek a raised level of closeness to God. In the 2005 main event $52,818,610 (US) in prize money was distributed, including a $7.5 million first prize. Purity of both thought and action is important.

Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes a "rake" (a percentage between 6%-10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest, hence the prize money increases with more players. All obscene and irreligious sights and sounds are to be avoided. Much of this growth can be attributed to the WSOP airing on ESPN and the World Poker Tour being shown on the Travel Channel, along with other televised series, as well as the boom of online poker. During Ramadan, Muslims are also expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam by refraining from violence, anger, envy, greed, lust, angry/sarcastic retorts, gossip, and are meant to try to get along with each other better than normal. For the 2006 main event, a cap of 8,000 players has been established. Eating, drinking and sexual intercourse are not allowed between dawn (fajr), and sunset (maghrib). In the main event alone, participants grew from 839 in 2003, to 2,576 in 2004, to 5,619 in 2005. Fasting during the month of Ramadan is specifically mentioned in three consecutive verses of the Qur'an:.

In 2000 there were 4,780 entrants in the various events, but in 2005, the number rose to over 23,000 players. The fasting during Ramadan has been so predominant in defining the month that some have been led to believe the name of this month, Ramadan, is the name of Islamic fasting, when in reality the Islamic term for fasting is sawm. The number of participants in the WSOP has grown every year, and in recent years the growth has exploded. The most prominent event of this month is the fasting practiced by all observant Muslims. Also, celebrities Patrick Bruel and Jennifer Tilly have won WSOP bracelets in 1998 and 2005 respectively. . Doyle's son, Todd Brunson, won a bracelet in a pot limit Omaha event in 2005, making them the first father/son combo to win at least one event at the WSOP. The religious observances or holiday of Ramadan (Arabic: رمضان) occur throughout the entire Islamic calendar month from which the holiday gets its name.

In 1973 a new event, five-card stud, was added to the main event of no limit Texas Hold 'em. From 1971 on, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. The winner, Johnny Moss was elected by his peers as the first World Champion of Poker and received a silver cup as a prize. In 1970 the first WSOP at Binion's Horseshoe took place with seven players.

Through better security techniques as well as the Binion's tireless promotion through events like the WSOP, poker became a very popular game. Prior to the 1970s, poker was not found at many casinos because of the difficulty of keeping cheaters out. The Binion family not only nurtured the WSOP, but poker in general. The set of tournaments the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve to was the brainchild of Las Vegas legend, casino owner, and poker player Benny Binion as well as his two sons Jack and Ted.

The original World Series of Poker was started by Tom Morehead of the Riverside casino in Reno and was an invitational event. . The World Series of Poker is the most prestigious set of poker tournaments in the world.