Poker Pro Antonio ´´The Magician´´ Esfandiari Joins World Poker Tour(R) as the Face of the WPT Poker-Made Millionaire(TM)

World Poker Tour(R) (WPT) today announced that professional poker
player and WPT Champion Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari will join
the company as the face of the WPT Poker-Made Millionaire(TM), an
elite group of 84 players and growing who have won at least $1 million
playing on the World Poker Tour. At the age of 25 years old,
Esfandiari was the sixth player to achieve WPT Poker-Made
Millionaire(TM) status, winning $1.4 million in the Season II Los
Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC)--a feat that also made him the youngest
million dollar prize winner in poker history at the time. Two days
after his win at the LAPC, Esfandiari again made history with
back-to-back final table appearances, placing sixth at the WPT
Celebrity Invitational.

In addition to his skill and charisma at the tables, Esfandiari´s
incredible journey to becoming a poker-made millionaire and living the
poker dream made him the perfect figure to represent the WPT
Poker-Made Millionaire lifestyle. In this role, Esfandiari will
leverage his experience to provide poker tips, tools and tricks for
fans and players while delivering updates and information from
tournament stops via WPT Live Updates, web videos and online blogs.
Esfandiari will also be the spokesperson for CLUBWPT, WPT´s
subscription poker platform for the US, and www.worldpokertour.com,
WPT´s real-money online gaming offering for the international market.
He will also represent WPT in tournaments and events across the world,
including the upcoming WPT tournament at Casino Barcelona in May,
which is the first of many regional events WPT will implement in
various markets worldwide.

"Antonio embodies the excitement that has become the WPT journey,"
said WPT Founder, President and CEO, Steve Lipscomb. "This is the only
sport in the history of televised sports that allows you to watch it,
dream it and be it. Now WPT fans and poker enthusiasts can take the
journey with Antonio as he leads the way for the next WPT Poker-Made
Millionaire."

Esfandiari´s poker story began at 19 years old, when he began a
career as a professional magician while waiting tables in his hometown
of San Jose, Calif. Along the way, he found himself performing in
local casinos and poker events--including the press conference that
launched WPT--where he discovered a passion for poker and learned the
game with the help of friend and experienced poker pro, Phil Laak.
After a few major cashes and a third place win at a WPT event to
bolster his confidence and his bankroll, Esfandiari entered the LAPC,
which is consistently one of the biggest WPT events every season--and
beat hundreds of players to win his first WPT title and more than $1.4
million.

"I will never forget the day Steve Lipscomb hired me to perform
magic at the press release party for the WPT," said Esfandiari. "All I
dreamt of that day was winning a WPT event someday. To have actually
won a few years later and to now become the official spokesperson for
a company that did so much for poker and me personally is an honor I
hold very dear to me. It´s great to be a part of the WPT, who has been
such an instrumental part of my poker journey."

Bringing Esfandiari´s poker story full circle, the partnership
kicks off at the LAPC at Commerce Casino, where he truly began living
the dream.

For more information or to arrange an interview with Antonio,
please contact Lyndsay LaGree at 323.330.9876 or
llagree@worldpokertour.com.

About WPTE

WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq:WPTE) is a company engaged in the
creation of internationally branded entertainment and consumer
products driven by the development, production, and marketing of
televised programming based on gaming themes. WPTE is the creator of
the World Poker Tour(R), a television show based on a series of
high-stakes poker tournaments that airs on the Travel Channel in the
United States and is scheduled to begin broadcasting on GSN in early
2008. WPT is licensed for broadcast globally. WPTE also offers a
real-money online gaming website, www.worldpokertour.com, which
prohibits wagers from players in the U.S. and other restricted
jurisdictions. WPTE currently licenses its brand to companies in the
business of poker equipment and instruction, apparel, publishing,
electronic and wireless entertainment, DVD/home entertainment, casino
games, and giftware. The company is also engaged in the sale of
corporate sponsorships. For show information, tools for improving
poker play, and other WPT news, fans may log on to
www.worldpokertour.com. WPT Enterprises, Inc. is a majority owned
subsidiary of Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: LACO). Photos and
media information can be found online at:
www.worldpokertour.com/media.

WPTEG

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a
"safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain information
included in this press release (as well as information included in
oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by WPT
Enterprises, Inc.) contains statements that are forward-looking, such
as statements relating to the expansion of WPTE´s brand licensing, the
development of new television and film projects, the development of
WPTE corporate sponsors and other business development activities, as
well as statements regarding other capital spending, financing sources
and the effects of competition. Such forward-looking information
involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly
affect anticipated results in the future and, accordingly, such
results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking
statements made by or on behalf of WPTE. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, WPTE´s significant dependence on the
Travel Channel as a current source of revenue and GSN as a future
source of revenue, and the risk that GSN will not exercise its options
to air season of the WPT series beyond Season VI; difficulty of
predicting the growth of our online gaming business, which is a
relatively new industry with an increasing number of market entrants;
reliance on the efforts of CryptoLogic to develop and maintain the
online gaming website in compliance with WPTE´s business model and
applicable gaming laws; the potential that our television programming
will fail to maintain a sufficient audience; the risk that competitors
with greater financial resources or marketplace presence might develop
television programming that would directly compete with WPTE´s
television programming; the risk that WPTE may not be able to protect
its entertainment concepts, current and future brands and other
intellectual property rights; risks associated with future expansion
into new or complementary businesses; the termination or impairment of
WPTE´s relationships with key licensing and strategic partners; and
WPTE´s dependence on its senior management team. For more information,
review WPTE´s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.