NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- 2K Sports, the sports division of 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (Nasdaq:TTWO), today announced that it has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq:WPTE) for WORLD POKER TOUR(R) (WPT) interactive poker games. The console, PC, and handheld games are in development at both Coresoft and Backbone studios.

"The WORLD POKER TOUR is fast becoming one of the most recognizable properties in entertainment," said Steve Glickstein, Vice President of Publishing for 2K Sports. "We are very excited to be partnering with WPT Enterprises, Inc. to bring everyone's favorite poker show into the virtual world of interactive gaming. Poker is one of the world's most popular pastimes and a natural fit for our lineup."

"This agreement with 2K Sports takes the WORLD POKER TOUR into people's homes in a truly interactive manner," said WPT Enterprises, Inc. founder and President Steve Lipscomb. "Gamers will have a chance to feel the exhilaration that our WPT players do when they grab one of those monster pots. We are looking forward to having our WPT brand available on the world's most popular game platforms."

The games will create an authentic WORLD POKER TOUR experience for users simulating the excitement of the smash hit television show. The WORLD POKER TOUR, the show that launched the sport, will broadcast 16 new tournaments filmed at leading casinos from Las Vegas to Paris, beginning with the launch of its Third Season on March 2, 2005. The WORLD POKER TOUR airs in the U.S. Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the Travel Channel and is the highest rated series in the network's history.

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an integrated global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games and accessories for the PC, PlayStation(R) game console, PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, PSP(TM) handheld entertainment system, Xbox(R), Nintendo GameCube(TM) and Game Boy(R) Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games, 2K Games and Global Star Software; and distributes products in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two also manufactures and markets video game accessories in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region through its Joytech subsidiary. The Company maintains sales and marketing offices in Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, Sydney, Breda (Netherlands) and Auckland. Take-Two's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.

About WPT Enterprises, Inc.

WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) is a company engaged in the creation of internationally branded entertainment and consumer products driven by the development, production, and marketing of televised programming based on gaming themes. WPTE is the creator of the World Poker Tour(R), a television show based on a series of high-stakes poker tournaments that airs on the Travel Channel in the United States and more than 50 markets globally. WPT Enterprises currently licenses its brand to companies in the business of poker equipment and instruction, apparel, publishing, electronic and wireless entertainment, DVD/home entertainment, casino games, and giftware. For show information, tools for improving poker play, and other WPT news, fans may log on to www.worldpokertour.com. The company is also engaged in the sale of corporate sponsorships. WPT Enterprises, Inc. is a majority owned subsidiary of Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: LACO). Photos and media information can be found online at: www.worldpokertour.com/media.

All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The statements contained herein which are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to them. The Company has no obligation to update such forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary significantly from these forward-looking statements based on a variety of factors. These important factors are described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2004 in the section entitled "Risk Factors".

By: Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A pair of paintings from the famed series depicting dogs playing poker fetched nearly $600,000 at auction Tuesday. The two works -- "A Bold Bluff" and "Waterloo" -- were among 16 paintings that artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge was commissioned to create for a Minnesota-based advertising company in 1903. Of the 16, nine are of dogs playing poker.

The two works that sold Tuesday for $590,400 capture moments in a poker game played by five dogs, among them a St. Bernard that ends up collecting the pot on a bluff.

The winning bid set a new auction record for Coolidge, whose previous top sale was $74,000, said Alan Fausel, director of paintings at Doyle New York, which handled Tuesday's sale.

The winning bidder was a private collector from New York.

Doyle had estimated that the two paintings would bring in between $30,000 and $50,000.

The sale was part of Doyle's annual "Dogs in Art" auction, which coincides with the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

On the Net:

Doyle New York: http://www.doylenewyork.com

February 16, 2005

By HEATH ASTON
the Daily Telegraph

NOT one to sit still, 81-year-old Sydney pokie baron Len Ainsworth wants to sell his business to Russian casino magnate Boris Belotserkovsky.

Mr Belotserkovsky's Unicum Group -- of which he is sole owner -- is the biggest casino and gaming supplier in the former Soviet Union.

Ainsworth Game Technology has sold 300-400 poker machines a month into the fast-growing Russian market through Unicum since 2003.

If the proposed deal proceeds, a merged Ainsworth will increase its market capitalisation by three-fold and, according to Mr Ainsworth, be a $1 billion business within three years.

Mr Belotserkovsky will become president of the Western Sydney-based company, though it will remain listed in Australia, and Mr Ainsworth would continue as chairman with a diluted share base.

"Boris is a friend, I've known him for about 20 years," Mr Ainsworth told The Daily Telegraph last night.

"We've been doing very nicely over there; he's been doing a very good job."

Subject to due diligence and regulatory, government and shareholder approvals, the merger will take place within months.

News of the merger came as Ainsworth yesterday posted a $1.83 million half-year net loss.

The market took the late breaking news well yesterday, pushing Ainsworth shares 9c higher to a three-month high of $1.18.

February 14, 2005

BY CELESTE KATZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

If popularity were a true measure of worth, then the two paintings being auctioned off Tuesday would be worth millions.

Instead, these two authentic icons of Americana - a group of dogs smoking cigars and playing poker around a table - are expected to fetch a fraction of that at the Doyle Gallery auction on the upper East Side.

The first of the 1903 Cassius Coolidge paintings, "A Bold Bluff," shows a St. Bernard with a lousy poker hand playing it cool. The second, "Waterloo," shows the big dog raking in the chips while his pals howl in dismay.

The two oil paintings on canvas - not the velvet ones found in many dens and basements across America - are on display at Doyle through Tuesday. They will be sold as part of the gallery's annual Dogs in Art auction and together expect to draw $30,000 to $50,000 - or much more, considering the poker craze of late.

"[There] are probably millions of reproductions, and to have the originals is very important," said Alan Fausel, director of paintings at Doyle and an appraiser for "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS.

Although the images first became popular at the turn of the century, they remain hot. A quick search of eBay for "dogs playing poker" turned up 241 items last week, including a rhinestone purse, a set of seven buttons and a red "Playing Dogs Lounge Rockabilly Shirt" that only a really brave man would wear.

Besides giving the world the indelible image of gambling canines, upstate New York-born Coolidge also invented what he called the Comic Foreground - the cardboard cutouts that let carnivalgoers be photographed as strongmen or fat ladies, for example.