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That could change if World Poker Tour Enterprises decides to step up its little war against the likes of Full Tilt.


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WPT does not currently make a profit. Most of their income came from television dollars. Television makes money by selling ads. Most of the ads on WPT on Travel Channel were Party or Stars. They lost 50% of their major advertisers.

Why would WPT want to shut down online poker?

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Two reasons why WPTE are lobbying governments around the world to shut down "unlicensed" offshore online poker:

1. Some offshore online poker "schools", with FullTiltPoker.NET in particular, are using their "marketing" companies to purchase TV time in the U.S. to air their own poker shows.

As a result, WPTE was NOT able to get any U.S. TV rights fees for the 2nd season of its spinoff PPT product. The PPT has been postponed indefinitely.

WPTE wants the U.S. DOJ to cut off the "air supply" of the likes of Full Tilt so that Full Tilt can't buy any more TV time in the U.S., thereby cutting down the amount of "time buy" TV poker available in the U.S. and preserving WPTE's current primary revenue stream, namely U.S. TV rights fees from The Travel Channel.

(Obviously, WPTE believes that The Travel Channel in the U.S. will keep picking up one-year options for the WPT TV product, even if online poker "school" advertising were to disappear from the U.S. entirely. We will see that assumption being tested within 60 days, as The Travel Channel will have to decide on its option for Season 6 by mid-March.)

2. In new and emerging markets (with Asia and "Greater China" in particular, but also in the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea), WPTE wants the "ministries of finance" in those countries to license WPTOnline.com to be the ONLY legally-licensed online poker room.

WPTE officials are meeting with government officials in each of those countries to try to convince the governments that WPTE is the "good guy" who abide by the laws and the likes of Full Tilt, PokerStars, Doyle's Room, etc. are the "bad guys" who broke the law by operating "unlicensed" online poker businesses.

WPTE still wants online poker, but WPTE 1) wants to have a monopoly on online poker in new markets and 2) wants governments in "mature" markets to shut down "unlicensed" offshore online poker in order to cut down on the amount of "time buy" TV poker available.