FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 12/12/2008

World Poker Tour and Beau Rivage Host Southern Poker Championship

$10,000 Buy-In Televised Event Brings Top Players to Biloxi

BILOXI, Miss. – High-stakes celebrity poker action returns to Beau Rivage as WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: WPTE) and MGM MIRAGE (NYSE: MGM) announce the Southern Poker Championship. The Mississippi Gulf Coast largest poker event begins Jan. 2 and culminates with the World Poker Tour Main Event Jan. 14-17. In addition to an anticipated $1 million first place prize, the winner of the Championship Event will receive a bracelet and a $25,000 seat in the WPT World Championship at Bellagio in April 2009.

“This year’s Southern Poker Championship is our second time at the beautiful Beau Rivage in Biloxi,” said Founder, President and CEO of the WPT Steve Lipscomb. “MGM and the WPT are great partners. When we host a World Poker Tour televised event together it is tough to beat. Add Biloxi’s Southern hospitality and remarkable determination (evidence by its recovery after Katrina) and you’ll understand why we are thrilled to be back at the Beau.”

“We have enjoyed a long-standing partnership with WPT,” said George P. Corchis, Jr., president and chief operating officer of MGM MIRAGE’s Mississippi Operations, which includes Beau Rivage in Biloxi and Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica. “This year, our January WPT poker event will move to Beau Rivage and by all accounts, this Southern poker tradition will only get bigger and better.”

Fifteen tournament events will be spread out over sixteen action-filled days with buy-ins from $300 up to $10,000 for the WPT Championship Event. In addition, there will be daily No-Limit Hold’em Tournaments, $500 buy-in +$40 entry fee Mega Satellites for the Championship Event every afternoon, and $175 buy-in + $25 entry fee Second Chance Tournaments each night.

The featured event for the Jan. 11 weekend will be the $5,000 Omaha Pot Limit Championship. One of the largest Omaha Championships in the world, it will draw the who's who of poker. This $5,000 Championship originated in 2005 at MGM MIRAGE sister property Gold Strike in Tunica and has become one of the main draws for major poker tournaments everywhere. The kick off the exciting poker action, Beau Rivage will host a free media-only tournament and an exclusive players’ cocktail reception on Jan. 10.

Women from across the country will come to Beau Rivage to play in the popular Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS) No-Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament on Jan. 10. The tournament has a $300 buy in + $40 entry fee.

“Beau Rivage is proud to bring back the biggest and only televised poker event on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” said Ken Lambert, Jr., Beau Rivage director of poker operations. “The players have really responded to the combination of Southern charm and hospitality at Beau Rivage, as well as the Gulf Coast’s mild winter temperatures.”

World Poker Tour Season VII will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net (FSN) starting January 2009 as part of the Sunday Night Sports Block.

With high ceilings and an open floor plan, Beau Rivage’s smoke-free poker room is one of the most spacious and comfortable in the South. Located past a striking onyx and marble entryway, the poker room’s 16 tables are accentuated by luxurious leather-paneled walls. The room offers a variety of popular games including Texas Hold’em, 7-Card Stud and Omaha High Low Split, and a high stakes area where No-Limit Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha encourage players to go all in. Dedicated amenities include personal safety deposit boxes, knowledgeable staff available 24 hours a day, tableside food and beverage service, daily tournaments and free lessons upon request.

HIGH RESOLUTION ARTWORK IS AVAILABLE AT www.worldpokertour.com.

ABOUT BEAU RIVAGE:
Casual elegance is redefined at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, MGM MIRAGE’s destination resort on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Named one of the top 100 hotels in the continental United States and Canada by Travel + Leisure, Beau Rivage blends world-class amenities with world-famous Southern hospitality. Featuring 1,740 elegantly appointed guest rooms and suites; 11 restaurants; four nightclubs and bars; a 1,550-seat theatre; an upscale shopping promenade; a world-class spa & salon; and Fallen Oak, a new Tom Fazio designed championship golf course; Beau Rivage offers the finest destination resort experience in the Southeast. For more information or to make reservations, call (888) 56-ROOMS or visit www.beaurivage.com.

ABOUT WPTE:
WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) is one of the most recognized names in internationally televised gaming and entertainment with brand presence in land-based tournaments, television, online and mobile. WPTE has led innovation in the sport of poker since 2003, when it ignited the global poker boom with the creation of the World Poker Tour® (WPT) television show. Based on a series of high stakes poker tournaments, WPT is now broadcast globally and will premiere its all-new seventh season on Fox Sports Net’s national sports network in the United States in 2009. WPTE also offers a unique online subscription and sweepstakes-based poker club, ClubWPT.com, which operates in 38 states across the U.S. Additionally, WPTE owns and operates WPT China, a multi-media company based in Beijing specializing in television production, online and mobile games supporting the WPT China National Traktor Poker Tour™. WPTE has a 10-year exclusive partnership with the China Leisure Sports Administrative Center to market and build the sport of poker in China. WPTE also participates in strategic brand license, partnership and sponsorship opportunities. For more information, www.worldpokertour.com. (WPTEG)

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Kimberly Burghart, WPT Enterprises, Inc., 323.682.2595, kburghart@worldpokertour.com

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For More Information:
Mary Cracchiolo-Spain, Beau Rivage
mcracchiolo@beaurivage.com
(228) 386-7134