WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WPTE) and Grup Peralada--most
prestigious operator of casinos in Spain--announced today that Casino
Barcelona will host its second World Poker Tour(R) (WPT) event May 21
- 27, 2008. With the success of this destination event on the WPT
Season VI schedule last year, the WPT and Grup Peralada are bringing
the Spanish Championship back to the Tour.
"The WPT Spanish Championship was a great success last year," said
Steve Lipscomb, WPT Founder, President and CEO. "We are honored to
extend our partnership with Grup Peralada and return to Spain with a
regional tour stop that Catalonians can call their own."
Grup Peralada, with presence in various leisure time activities
and also industrial sectors such as gaming, winegrowing, culture
(International Music Festival of Peralada), hotels & wellness, golf,
plastics or car industry, has vast experience organizing poker
tournaments. With over 120 events every year--including three
international tournaments--Grup Peralada, especially Casino Barcelona,
is a recognized leader in high level poker events and sets the bar in
the Spanish gaming sector.
The May event is expected to draw a field of over 400 players,
including the new face of the WPT Poker Made Millionaire(TM), Poker
Pro Antonio "the Magician" Esfandiari, as he represents
www.worldpokertour.com at the tables.
The World Poker Tour official site, www.worldpokertour.com, is now
running weekly online satellites to give players the chance to earn
their EUR 5000 main event buy in and EUR 300 entry fee events for as
little as EUR 6. Casino Barcelona will also hold Super Satellite No
Limit Hold´em (buy-in 200 EUR+20 EUR), with unlimited re-buys and
add-on, starting from 3 p.m. on May 21 and May 22. The main event
begins at Casino Barcelona on May 24 concluding with the non-televised
final table on May 27.
The WPT Spanish Championship event in October, 2007, saw 226
players from around the globe put up EUR 7,500 to compete, including
pros like Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Isabelle Mercier, Juha Helppi,
Christer Johansson, and many others. First place went to Austrian
Markus Lehmann, who won EUR 537,000 and the WPT Spanish Championship
title.
For more information on the WPT Spanish Championship, satellites
and other details, visit www.worldpokertour.com or contact Sylvie
Belanger at sylvie@grupperalada.com or +34 93 511 9750.
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 will begin broadcasting in the
United States on its new network home, GSN, in March 2008. WPT is
licensed for broadcast globally. WPTE also offers a real-money online
gaming website 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).
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.
