Indian gaming company launches TV production unit

Thursday, June 6, 2002 | 11:37 a.m.

Lakes Gaming Inc. has launched World Poker Tour LLC, a series of 13 nationally televised poker events that will be filmed at casinos worldwide.

Lakes Gaming will have an 80 percent ownership in the joint venture with World Poker Tour Chief Executive and filmmaker Steven Lipscomb.

The tour will consist of 13 nationally televised poker events, filmed in casinos worldwide, where finalists play for millions of dollars in prize money. The season will culminate in the grand finale featuring the winners from each tour event. Unlike other major sporting events, however, anyone willing to put up the $25,000 buy-in can compete in the finals for a shot at a championship title, the company said. World Poker Tour expects to negotiate with one or more TV networks to broadcast the events.

The inaugural event of the World Poker Tour was the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic May 27-June 1 at Bellagio. World Poker Tour will film the finals as the first show of the World Poker Tour season and rebroadcast it at a later date.

Lakes Gaming of Minnetonka, Minn., has development and management agreements with four Indian tribes for new casino operations in Michigan, California and the East Coast. Founder and Chief Executive Lyle Berman, former chairman of the Stratosphere hotel-casino in Las Vegas, is an acclaimed poker player.