Mandalay Bay Joins WPT Roster

The World Poker Tour announced today that Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas has joined its roster of host casinos for a new event that will be staged as the second stop of the Season V calendar. The Mandalay Bay Poker Championship, to be held June 4 - 8, will become the next big event on the WPT's storied 17-stop tour which features exciting poker action at some of the most beautiful, elegant and highly regarded resorts and card rooms around the globe. In Season V, the WPT is expected to surpass its Quarter Billion Dollar mark in prize money!

Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) said, "This continues to build our solid relationship with the MGM MIRAGE family of destination resort casinos." We have scored a trifecta with Mandalay Bay, The Mirage and Bellagio, the best Las Vegas has to offer."

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino is a luscious tropical-themed resort. The site's 3,644 rooms and suites include 424 accommodations managed by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The property also has a House of Blues restaurant, concert hall and more than 100 House of Blues-themed rooms, decorated in the unique style for which House of Blues has become famous. Mandalay Bay earned the prestigious AAA Four Diamond Award, and offers two AAA Four Diamond restaurants, Aureole and 3950. The Mandalay Bay Convention Center brings the total meeting space to nearly 1.5 million square feet and is the largest convention center on the Las Vegas Strip. Mandalay Bay's brands include: THEhotel, an all-suite hotel featuring 1,117 luxurious one-bedroom suites and Mandalay Place, a collection of 41 unique boutiques and restaurants. Mandalay Bay is a wholly owned subsidiary of MGM MIRAGE, which also owns and operates The Mirage and Bellagio, two additional Las Vegas WPT casino partners.

In other new developments, Foxwoods Resort Casino, after staging some of the largest events in WPT history, will extend its involvement with the tour by hosting a new spring event, to complement its fall World Poker Finals. The Foxwoods' Poker Classic will be filmed as part of Season IV April 6-9.

The Foxwoods' Poker Classic will replace the PartyPoker Million on the WPT calendar. After several great seasons together in which the WPT helped build international awareness for these now prominent online sites, the WPT will bid adieu to both PartyPoker and Ultimate Bet.

Explained Lipscomb: "We've had a great run with both companies, but the circumstances have changed since we elected to launch WPTonline.com, our own international gaming website. Although they will no longer be on the tour, we continue to explore future opportunities with both of these organizations."

In announcing the WPT's full Season V calendar, poker players may now begin planning their tournament schedules and their shot at the $100 million prize money up for grabs on the World Poker Tour -- a tour with the slogan "Anyone can play; Anyone can win." In just four years, the WPT has transformed poker into a career destination for touring pros, just like players on the PGA, while also enabling newcomers to get a piece of the estimated $200 million prize money offered over the WPT's four seasons of riveting play. With the announcement of the tour dates, the satellite contact information will also be accessible on the newly re-launched websit.

World Poker Tour will once again feature events in Paris and a stellar lineup of U.S. destinations. Season V begins and ends in Las Vegas, initially with The Mirage Poker Showdown May 14, 2006 at The Mirage and concludes April 27, 2007 at Bellagio for the exciting and much heralded WPT World Championship.