In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday, World Poker Tour Enterprises disclosed that they have received an extension on their attempts to raise their stock prices to NASDAQ and SEC standards.

On August 14th, WPT Enterprises received a letter from NASDAQ that cited their stock had fallen below the $1 standard that is set by the organization. NASDAQ stated that only by returning their stock above that $1 level for ten consecutive days would WPT Enterprises remain eligible to be traded on the exchange and they were given six months, or until roughly February 2009, to meet those requirements.

This was before the downturn in not only the United States’ stock market but also in the worldwide financial community. On October 16th, NASDAQ announced a suspension of the $1 minimum rule, which would continue until January 19th, 2009. This worked in favor of WPT Enterprises and their stock as yesterday the exchange notified the company that, with the suspension of the rule, they would have until May 18th, 2009 “to regain compliance with the minimum stock listing requirements of NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(5),” according to the SEC notification.

Activity regarding WPT Enterprises stock and the company itself has been frantic over the past couple of months since the delisting announcement. Lakes Entertainment, who owns 61% of the outstanding common stock in the company, announced two weeks ago that they would be offering their shares in WPT Enterprises as a dividend to holders of Lakes Entertainment stock, which is expected to take place on November 21st. This was done, as previously reported here on Poker News Daily, to allow Lakes Entertainment to clear WPT Enterprises from their company’s SEC reporting guidelines and put the shares in the hands of the people who own Lakes Entertainment stock.

Last week, WPT Enterprises filed another SEC notice that will have an effect on the health of the company as well. In that document, WPT Enterprises announced that they were terminating their contract with Cryptologic Incorporated and WagerLogic Limited regarding the operation of their online poker room, wptonline.com. Termination of the deal, just finishing the first year of its three year span, will have an impact on WPT Enterprises bottom line in that it will have to buy out the contract, expected to potentially cost WPT Enterprises around $2 million

Although the recent decline in the American stock exchanges has affected nearly every company being traded, WPT Enterprises stock price has dropped precipitously since it reached its apex in 2005. At one time trading around $27 a share, it closed yesterday at $.44. WPT Enterprises also announced this week that they will report on their Third Quarter 2008 Financial results on November 4th, which should give further information on the company’s well being.

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