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World Poker Tour,
LLC (WPT) announced today that it has signed its first wave
of license agreements as part of a comprehensive brand
licensing program with the following partners:
-- The United
States Playing Card Company, a maker of casino-grade playing
cards and chips, will offer a complete set of WPT playing
cards and chip sets to allow its fans to host casino-style
poker games in their own home.
-- JAKKS Pacific,
Inc., a leading toy, writing instrument and leisure products
company, will market a WPT TV Games line of plug it in and
play video games housed inside a WPT-themed joystick. Games
in the first unit will include Texas HoldEm, based on the
WPT television show. JAKKS' WPT TV Games is expected to hit
retail shelves in late 2004.
-- ODM, a
manufacturer of edgy and lifestyle T-shirts, will sell a
line of WPT-themed T-shirts across a variety of distribution
channels.
-- MDI
Entertainment LLC, (a subsidiary of Scientific Games), a
company that creates state lottery games, has signed on to
create a WPT Texas HoldEm Scratch-off lottery game that will
offer poker-related prizes.
-- G-III Apparel,
a marketer and designer of fashion forward designer clothes
and sports league apparel, will design WPT casual sportswear
including jackets and jerseys.
-- Lakes
Entertainment will license and market WPT All in HoldEm(R)
table games directly to casinos that will allow players to
play a poker-themed table game that lets them strategize
their betting and make "all-in" raises or bluffs. Lakes
Entertainment owns approximately 80% of WPT.
Brandgenuity LLC,
a New-York based licensing agency, has assisted the WPT in
the strategic development and execution of its licensing
program. For more information on World Poker Tour licenses,
contact Brandgenuity at 212-925-0730 or email
info@brand-genuity.com. The company is located at 430 West
14th Street, Suite 403, New York, NY 10014.
About The World
Poker Tour
World Poker Tour,
LLC is an integrated media and entertainment company,
engaged in the development, production and marketing of
television programming and live events, and the licensing
and sale of branded consumer products featuring the World
Poker Tour brand.
About
Brandgenuity LLC
Brandgenuity LLC,
an independent boutique trademark licensing agency based in
New York, provides turnkey licensing services to owners of
famous trademarks. The agency's four principals, Jay Asher,
Adina Avery-Grossman, Louis Drogin and Andrew Topkins, have
more than 50 years of combined licensing and marketing
experience. Brandgenuity agency services include strategic
licensing planning, prospecting, negotiation, licensee
management and program administration. Brandgenuity's
clients include Snapple(R), Yoohoo(R), This Old House(R),
Outdoor Life(R), Sports Illustrated(R), Orajel(R), Baby
Orajel(R) and Meow Mix(R).
Lakes
Entertainment, Inc. currently has development and management
agreements with four separate Tribes for four new casino
operations, one in Michigan, two in California and one with
the Nipmuc Nation on the East Coast. In addition, Lakes
Entertainment has agreements for the development of one
additional casino on Indian-owned land in California through
a joint venture with MRD Gaming, which is currently being
disputed by the Tribe. In addition, Lakes Entertainment owns
approximately 80% of World Poker Tour, the entertainment and
media company that films and produces the World Poker Tour
television series currently shown on Travel Channel. Lakes
Entertainment, Inc. common shares are traded on the Nasdaq
National Market under the trading symbol "LACO".
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