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Tonight I had a conversation with a very knowledgeable and famous poker player whose name I won't mention. We both have the same opinion. The WPT is going down. ESPN will simply crush them. In fact, we think, and I think I stated this to you over a year ago, that ESPN will eventually crush most of the other shows. Of course that's just my opinion, but I would be curious to know if you agree, and if you do, in a sense the WPT will eventually then lose this suit even if they win.


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Mason:

You are forgetting about the "global picture".

While it is true that WPTE is losing ground, and losing ground quickly, in the U.S. TV poker market to NBC Heads-Up, the WSOP on ESPN, and even some of the "time buy" TV poker shows, WPTE has much bigger fish to fry in the "global" poker market.

WPTE no longer markets itself as a TV poker producer.

Instead, WPTE now markets itself as a start-up ONLINE POKER business that is regrouping to launch "version 2" in the 2nd quarter of 2007, after "version 1", which primarily targeted the United Kingdom market, failed due to both business and technical issues.

Furthermore, WPTE is moving quickly to establish beach heads in the East Asian markets, where Harrah's is currently unable to get the WSOP onto television due to a dispute between ESPN and News Corporation Limited (NewsCorp), and where Harrah's currently has ZERO presence on the ground with no casino projects in development (that could change).

NewsCorp, not ESPN, manages ALL ESPN-branded TV networks in all of Asia except Japan and the Middle East via the Singapore-based ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) joint venture.

Until Harrah's is able to resolve the dispute between NewsCorp and ESPN over the broadcast of the WSOP in East Asia, the WSOP will NOT air on any ESS-managed ESPN-branded network.

(The Sumitomo Group manages the J SPORTS joint venture in Japan on behalf of ESPN, NewsCorp, Sony, Fuji, Liberty Media, and Tokyo Broadcasting. The WSOP will air in Japan on J sports ESPN.)

WPTE has been on TV in South Korea and the Philippines since the 4th quarter of 2004.

WPTE has just signed TV distribution deals in two predominately Chinese-speaking markets, Macau and Singapore, where American-style mega-resort casinos with poker rooms are being built.

WPTE's alliance with MGM MIRAGE will allow WPTE to hold its first WPT stop in East Asia when the MGM Grand Macau opens in the 4th quarter of 2007.

(Macau, while technically is now part of China, still operates with its own set of laws and will maintain its own currency until December 2049.)

Furthermore, MGM MIRAGE is allied with Macau gambling kingpin Stanley Ho and his daughters Pansy and Angela.

Pansy is a 50% partner in MGM Grand Macau, while Angela runs the offshore online gaming site DrHo888.com.

I expect the WPTE-MGM MIRAGE-Ho Family alliance to move quickly in their efforts to lobby the Chinese government to grant WPTE an EXCLUSIVE concession license to operate a real money online poker business serving Mainland China, where the Chinese government has the ability to block all unlicensed internet poker traffic via state-controlled internet "choke points".

If WPTE and its allies were successful in getting an exclusive online poker concession license to operate in Mainland China, thereby forcing all online poker players in Mainland China to play exclusively on WPTOnline.com and qualify via satellite exclusively to the "WPT World Championship", then WPTE will wrestle control of the global poker industry away from the likes of PartyPoker, Full Tilt, Mansion, bwin/OnGame (PokerRoom.com/EuroPoker) and Harrah's.

The Chinese government, while it has relaxed travel rules for its citizens to overseas destinations, still has the ability to deny an exit visa to a Chinese citizen. For example, the Chinese government has the ability to block any Mainland Chinese online poker player from traveling to Las Vegas to play the WSOP Main Event if the Chinese government were to grant WPTE a monopoly.

China will be the next "disruptive" event to take place in the poker industry, as the Mainland Chinese market has 4 times as many people compared to the U.S.

Chinese gamblers, in general, are prized by the gaming industry because they are ultra-loose, ultra-agressive, and are willing to bet on almost any game, whether it is Blackjack, Baccarat, Horse Racing, Greyhound Racing, the lottery, or betting on English Premier League soccer matches.

There is no reason to believe that Texas Hold'em will NOT sell in the Chinese-speaking markets once it is introduced via television.

(The Japanese gambler in general is the complete opposite, as he is likely to play Pachinko exclusively.)

While the battle for the poker market, both online and TV, in the U.S. is effectively over at this point due to market saturation, the REAL battle, for a majority share of poker revenue around the world by the year 2015, hasn't really begun yet because the "Battle for China" is looming on the horizon.