PRESS RELEASE

SOURCE: PokerStars.com

July 30, 2002 (Los Angeles) - PokerStars, online poker's most innovative destination, announced today that the first annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) broke all online records, generating a prize pool of $809,050 over the nine events. The final event, played on Sunday, July 28, boasted a prize pool of $238,000, with the winner, Sweden's MultiMarine, receiving over $65,450.

"The turnout for this event exceeded even our most optimistic forecasts," said Steve Morrow, Card Room Manager for PokerStars. "The scope of this event, and the huge prize pool, puts the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker in the top tier of poker tournaments worldwide."

The World Championship of Online Poker consisted of nine events, with buy-ins ranging from $100 to $1,000. PokerStars conducted satellite tournaments for this event beginning in late May, with buy-ins as low as $10. Over 70% of the players in the WCOOP events won their entries via the satellite system, which accounted for a total of over 700 events. The tournament attracted over 2,800 poker players from 36 countries.

"PokerStars has created a landmark online poker event," said Nolan Dalla, noted poker author and champion tournament poker player. "No one could have forecast this kind of popularity for an online poker tournament. PokerStars has proven that an online tournament can attract the same kind of turnout and prize pool as tournaments in live poker rooms."

In addition to the prize pool, which included $200,000 of guaranteed events, PokerStars contributed an additional $10,000 prize money for the best all-around player, and added almost $30,000 of the prize money via the site' s Frequent Player Points program, which allows players to earn tournament entries (and other prizes) by playing.

PokerStars (www.pokerstars.com) rocketed to the top tier of online poker sites in its first six months of operation, largely as a result of the company's innovative multi-table tournaments, fast-action live games (including limit, no-limit and pot-limit games of Texas Hold 'em, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High/Low, Omaha and Omaha High/Low), outstanding customer service and Frequent Player Points rewards for regular players. "Amarillo Slim" Preston, one of the world's best-known poker players, is the company's host and spokesman.