World Poker Tour

ASPIRING 2005 WORLD POKER TOUR® CHAMPS CAN START THEIR QUEST AT REGIONAL SATELLITES

List of Satellite Affiliates is Announced

April 2005 WPT Championship Expected to Offer an Anticipated $25 Million in Prize Money

West Hollywood, CA (December 9, 2004)- If you think you have the stuff to be the next WORLD POKER TOUR® (WPT) champion-but don't have the cash for the full buy-in-now's the time to sign up for a WPT World Championship satellite tournament at one of the nearly two dozen casinos that will offer them. And you can do it for as little as $5. The WORLD POKER TOUR is the highest rated series in the history of the Travel Channel, airing Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

From Albuquerque, NM to Verona, NY casinos and international online poker rooms are getting in on the action - by providing poker enthusiasts a low-cost way to potentially play their way into the prestigious $25,500-seat WORLD POKER TOUR finale, which is anticipated to draw more than 1000 players and a whopping estimated prize pool of $25 million. The climax to the WPT's Third Season will be the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, April 18-24. Television viewers can expect to catch the high stakes action when the Travel Channel begins airing WPT's Third Season episodes starting in March 2005.

In April 2004, Martin de Knijff of Stockholm, Sweden, prevailed over 342 players, to take home a first-place $2,728,356-cut of the $8,342,000 pie. However, he sat at a Final Table with three relative unknowns, including two college students who collectively took home $1,164,311, once again proving everyone has a serious shot at the WPT World Championship prize pool.

Should a player win one of the coveted satellite spots at a regional or online casino, he or she will receive from the hosting poker room the $25,000 + $500 buy-in, round-trip airfare and accommodations at the Bellagio. Smaller satellite host card rooms offer an alternative to the larger buy-in: a $2,500 entry prize to the Bellagio Super Satellites preceding the WPT World Championship tournament.

Participating casinos include Cliff Castle Casino (Camp Verde, AZ), Turning Stone Casino Resort (Verona, NY), Spirit Mountain Casino (Grand Ronde, OR), Black Bear Casino & Hotel (Carlton, MN), Roman Casino (Seattle, WA), Quinault Beach Resort & casino (Ocean Shores, WA), Desert Diamond Casino (Tucson, AZ), Grand Casino Coushatta (Kinder, LA), Bad River Casino & Convention Center (Odena, WI), Big Tomato Card Club (Sacramento, CA); Chip-In's Island Resort Casino (Harris, MI), Argosy Casino Baton Rouge (Baton Rouge, LA), Apache Gold Casino Resort (San Carlos, AZ), Greektown Casino (Detroit, MI), Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino (Laughlin, NV), Trump Indiana Casino (Gary, IN), Sandia Casino (Albuquerque, NM) and Bellagio (Las Vegas, NV). Many of these casinos have buy-ins starting as low as $35.

The international online poker rooms include PartyPoker.com, UltimateBet.com, PokerStars.com, bodog.com, TigerGaming.com, and PokerChamps.com. Currently, the online casinos start their satellite buy-ins anywhere from $5 to $50.

"Poker is the ultimate democratic sport-anyone can rise to the occasion," said Steve Lipscomb, WPT Enterprises (NASDAQ: WPTE) founder and president. "We are pleased to bring the opportunity to win a seat in our WPT World Championship to so many properties across the country, enabling thousands more players to get a shot at our record prize money. We tip our cap to the satellite affiliates and thank them for helping us grow this grassroots entry system."

Contact the satellite hosts for more information and specifics on their tournaments. Additional satellite affiliates will be announced in the coming weeks. Please check the WORLD POKER TOUR website www.worldpokertour.com for updates.

The WORLD POKER TOUR, the show that reinvented poker as a televised spectator sport, will broadcast 16 new tournaments filmed at leading casinos and exotic locales from Las Vegas to Paris, beginning with the launch of its Third Season in March 2005.

WPT Information Page

About WPT Enterprises, Inc.
WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) is a media and entertainment company engaged in the creation of branded entertainment through the development, production and marketing of televised programming based on poker and other gaming themes. To date, operations have principally revolved around the creation of the World Poker Tour brand through the production and licensing of a television series exhibited on the Travel Channel that is based on a circuit of previously-established high-stakes poker tournaments that we have affiliated under the "World Poker Tour" brand. 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.