World Poker Tour Enterprises Inc. announced today that it has decided to remain independent and that the company has signed a deal with Macau Cable in Macau and MediaCorp in Singapore to broadcast the World Poker Tour in Southeast Asia. “We are pleased with the progress we continue to make in growing our business and the WPT brand,� commented Steve Lipscomb, founder and CEO of WPTE.

“During the second quarter we delivered a combined nineteen World Poker Tour and Professional Poker episodes and added several new sponsors. We believe that the global poker industry continues to provide opportunities for our growth, and we are very optimistic about our future as an independent company,� he added.

In February, World Poker Tour Enterprises acquired the services of Thomas Weisel Partners LLC as its financial advisor to assist in determining the best direction for the company to take. It was decided that a stand-alone business strategy would be in the company’s best interest, providing a greater opportunity to increase the value of its shares. The agreements made with both Macau Cable and MediaCorp was one of the actions the company took to increase their value by expanding the number of territories that the WPT broadcasts in.

“These two deals give us a secure foothold in Southeast Asia, along with our deals in the Philippines,� explained Gary MacKinney, the director of international distribution for the WPTE. “With the long history of gaming in Macau and the recent licenses issued to a number of international gaming giants who will build or run major new casinos, this area is only going to get hotter.�

The first season of the World Poker Tour will air on Macau Cable while MediCorp, the largest broadcaster in Singapore, will air season two. “WPTE’s continued international broadcast expansion has fueled the worldwide poker phenomenon and has given us first position in the increasingly larger global poker marketplace,� Lipscomb said. “The demand for our programming has been gratifying and the speed of growth exhilarating.�

- Ryan Wallace