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What has been the highlight of 2007 for the company and why?
There were many great highlights that WPT Enterprises, Inc. saw in the WPT Mobile business last year. This mobile extension of the WPT brand includes partnerships with two leading companies in the mobile gaming space—Cecure Gaming, a leader in developing integrated software solutions for real-money mobile gaming; and Hands On Mobile, the leading global publisher of mobile entertainment products. Some particularly exciting milestones we saw in 2007 were the launch of Hands On’s multiplayer World Poker Tour Texas Hold ‘Em 2 with UK’s T-Mobile network in June, which is doubling the number we saw with WPT Hold ‘Em I (which to date has over six million downloads worldwide). WPT Hold ‘Em is Hands On’s number one mobile game title of all time and is ranked number four in Q1 mobile titles worldwide—that just speaks volumes about the power of the WPT brand and the hundreds of millions of people out there who are hungry for poker and literally take the game with them wherever they go.
WPT Mobile is one of the many channels where people can learn the game. Who knows—maybe someone playing the game today will end up at a WPT final table next month, being crowned the next WPT poker-made millionaire. That’s the beauty of the sport of poker—anyone can play and anyone can win.
What has been the worst moment of 2007 for the company and why?
Overall, 2007 was a year where WPT really invested in itself—strategically building up the management team and really looking at how we can continue innovating the business and the industry—which is a bittersweet process because it involves learning stages that aren’t always easy. But we’ve also learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of our business, which is invaluable knowledge that will be a cornerstone in the future of the World Poker Tour. As for the WPT Mobile, I’d say there probably wasn’t a bad moment—it’s only been an upward spiral, setting mobile game records and industry standards.
What would you say makes WPT Mobile better than other mobile phone poker games?
The thing that sets WPT Mobile apart is a full suite of offering in a variety of formats, from free play to mobile-to-mobile to multi-player to multi-player real-money to cutting edge web-to-wireless spaces. WPT Mobile puts poker at your fingertips so you can play when, where and how you want. The design, navigation, ease of use and unique feature sets are also comparable with other mobile poker software out there, which makes the overall player experience hard to beat. There is a record of someone actually playing WPT Texas Hold ‘Em non-stop for 13 straight hours—if that’s not a testimony to not only the draw of the game, but also to the software and technology capability, then I don’t know what is.
How many staff does the company employ and where?
Including our full production department, corporate and our new WPT China office, we employ about 100 full-time employees, most of whom are located in our home office in Los Angeles. We also have people on the ground in Beijing and London.
What do you have planned for 2008? What sort of year is it going to be?
2008 is going to be the year where World Poker Tour legitimizes poker as a sport. We just announced a groundbreaking partnership with STATS, who does the data analysis and stats for major sports leagues in the US like the NFL, NBA and MLB. They are rolling out the industries first poker stats, which they will compile from WPT’s database of final table hands to detail each individual player’s style of play, situational analysis, breakdowns, trends, and more, allowing poker fans and players to study intricacies of the game in ways never available before.
Last year we launched our WPT China office and announced our exclusive marketing partnership with China Sports Leisure Administrative Center (CLSAC) to grow their traditional folk sport, Traktor Poker, into a national tour. The Traktor Poker Tour will be heading into its second season in 2008, so we’ll definitely have a big focus there in creating more opportunities for the CLSAC to market and monetise the tour.
Another big focus will be worldpokertour.com, our real-money online gaming offering for the international market, which we launched in June. We’ll continue to make significant headway as the year progresses.
We’re really re-inventing our business and as always looking at every way to innovate the industry. Our show is moving to a new network home—GSN, the Network for Games—which is really a great fit for us as we look to grow the show and do so much more with it than we’ve ever been able to.
Steve Lipscomb, founder and CEO, World Poker Tour
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