Why wouldn't they? They might not have been able to get the deal on their own, nor did they necessarily have the right experience or a CEO ready to run it.

Don't forget, there is _a lot_ of capital in the world. We're talking trillions. To get the returns Blackstone is after, things need to move fast. It would be foolish to spend 6 months looking for a CEO when a suitable one comes knocking on your door. Especially when he might be the only one who can do a deal.

I suppose they need someone with a clean name to run the company. And he's probably also serving as an abstraction layer between them and online gambling issues.