Adding its 14th official casino member to a growing international
roster, WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: WPTE) today announced that it
signed an Expansion Member Agreement with Grup Peralada--the largest
operator of casinos in Spain. The deal will create a new stop on the
Season VI World Poker Tour(R) (WPT) at Spain's prestigious Casino
Barcelona in October 2007.
The two companies also inked an agreement to explore collaboration
opportunities in Spain's internet-based poker space. The parties will
also discuss the creation of a Spanish tour featuring televised poker
tournaments in various Grup Peralada and other prime casino venues, as
well as additional WPT regional tour stops in Portugal and South
America.
"This is a very important move for us as we continue to expand our
business in the European market," said Steve Lipscomb, President,
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WPTE. "The partnership with
Grup Peralada is a groundbreaking deal that will allow both companies
to benefit from each other's strengths to create exciting new growth
and business opportunities. We are very excited to kick off our
relationship with Grup Peralada with the inaugural WPT stop in Spain
at the prestigious Casino Barcelona."
"This agreement further reinforces our leading position in Poker,"
said Oliver Zugel, CEO of Grup Peralada's Casino Division. "It will
create a new standard for premium, televised poker events in Europe
and lay the groundwork for an Iberian tour involving other leading
casinos in Spain and Portugal."
The WPT announced today another development on the European leg of
the tour--the Grand Prix de Paris tournament will be held at the
Aviation Club as originally announced, but the WPT has canceled plans
to film the event. Due to changes in France's gaming environment, the
WPT did not receive in time the assurances needed to proceed with
filming the tournament. WPT will continue to work with Parisian
officials to obtain permission to film at the Aviation Club at a later
date. WPT has a great relationship with the Aviation Club and looks
forward to resuming its tour stops in France.
WPT will now kick off Season VI May 19th with the Mirage Poker
Showdown at The Mirage, Las Vegas. For the most up-to-date information
on our Tour Schedule, please visit www.worldpokertour.com/tournament.
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 in more than 150 markets globally. With the WPT in
its fifth season, WPTE has launched a second series on the Travel
Channel, the Professional Poker Tour(TM), which focuses on the play of
poker's leading stars. WPT also operates a real-money online gaming
website, www.wptonline.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. WPTE 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 source of revenue; difficulty of predicting the
growth of our online casino business, which is a relatively new
industry with an increasing number of market entrants; the increased
time, cost and expense of developing and maintaining WPTE's own online
gaming software; 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 WPT 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.
