WPT Enterprises report losses for Q1 2008

The mother company of the World Poker Tour has released its financial statements for the 1st quarter of this year, and although the revenue increased it has still not caught up with the expenses, for a net loss of $2.8 million.

The report highlights for this quarter include the delivery of 7 episodes of the WPT Season VI TV series and the premiere of said season, growth and development of the WPT China Traktor Poker Tour, the launch of ClubWPT.com, a new agreement with Cryptologic for launching a full online casino and the addition of Spanish and German online gaming sites, due to be launched by June 2008.

Here are some highlights of the financial results:

• Revenue increased 10% to $5.0 million (same period last year was $4.5 million) due to an increase in hosting and sponsorship.
• Domestic TV license revenues decreased to $2.1 million (from $2.4 million) because of the change to GSN from the Travel Channel, but international TV license revenues increased from $0.5 to $0.8 million.
• Online gaming revenues decreased noticeably from $0.6 million to $0.2 million, apparently due to significantly less traffic in the new Cryptologic network than in the previous WagerWorks network.

Because of these and other factors, WPTE reported a net quarterly loss of $2.8 million ($0.14 per diluted share,) which is 1 cent worse than what had been predicted by market experts.

Management at WPTE is neither discouraged nor daunted by these results – CEO Steve Lipscomb made a statement emphasizing this quarter’s successes and the upcoming challenges for next quarter:

Our first quarter results reflect the delivery of seven Season VI episodes, increased international television and sponsorship revenues, and moderate progress in our online gaming and ClubWPT.com businesses.

The Company is focused on capitalizing on our three primary growth initiatives: real-money online gaming, ClubWPT.com and WPT China. We are excited about our prospects in 2008 and are confident in our ability to continue to expand the World Poker Tour brand, both in the domestic and international markets, and execute our strategic plan.

Part of this strategic plan for next quarter and the rest of 2008 will include quarterly revenues between $5 and $6 million; the delivery of 8 episodes of the WPT Season VI series in the 2nd quarter, and of 3 episodes in the 3rd quarter and the launch of Season II of the WPT China Traktor Poker tour, with revenue form China expected to start rolling in by the 4th quarter.