WPT Releases 2009 Figures, Cancels WPT China

What a year for the World Poker Tour Enterprises, and it is only May. President and CEO Steve Lipscomb summarised the progress the company has made in the first quarter of 2009 in a conference call.

“We made significant progress in our turnaround efforts to position the Company for future profitability. We signed our first international sponsor for Season Seven of the World Poker Tour television series, we signed marketing partnerships for non-televised WPT tour stops, we shut down the WPT China business and we reduced our ongoing costs. We also completed the initial airing of the 13 episodes we produced for our ClubWPT.com online subscription poker business.”

Amongst all the TV deals the World Poker Tour managed to make a profit in the first quarter of this year, something it was not capable of last year. Profit was up to $479,000 for the first quarter of this year compared to a loss of $2.3 million last year.

TV deals and the signing up of PokerStars as the primary sponsor of WPT broadcasts in Canada, Europe, Mexico and South America for a reported $2.1 million were primary influences on the showed profit.

WPT Enterprises pointed to the explosive growth of their subscription poker room ClubWPT.com as one of the other forces behind their first quarter success. Overall revenues for the company in the first quarter of 2009 increased to $5.5 million – compared to $5.0 million in the first quarter of 2008.

The biggest surprise of WPT Enterprises financial report was the discontinuation of their WPT China operations, which had previously been viewed as a potential growth area for the company.

The huge potential of the Chinese market was seen as a goldmine to most in poker. That the WPT has decided to cut ties with the Asian giant will be met with perplexed faces. But the figures don’t lie. WPT China lost $984,000 in the first quarter of 2009, including a $211,000 shutdown provision, compared to a $528,000 loss in the first quarter of 2008.