You can do your own math and fact-digging, Jimbog1964. But for starters, I'd have to say it doesn't take a pencil-necked bean counter to tell at a glance that the massive numbers or members and rounds played WGT claims versus the impressively low overhead an ethereal thing like a computer program, server farm, programming and administrative staff represents (and all that surely being offset handsomely by the ubiquitous advertising sold on the site), WGT is a gold mine of extraordinary proportions.
But if you need some help figuring that out, here are some tidbits from WGT's own "About Us" link:
"Although EA's Tiger Woods title still rules the console business, with 30 million copies and $1.2 billion in revenue to date, Cheng says WGT attracts 20 to 30 times as many players as EA's Tiger Woods online game." -- Fortune Magazine, 09/10/2012
"We've built relationships with the USGA and the R&A, and we have more than four million registered users. A good course will do 100,000 rounds a year. We just recorded our 100 millionth round." Golf.com - THE GAMER, YuChiang Cheng, WGT CEO, 02/29/2012
09/23/2013 - Virtual U.S. Open Golf Game Tops 10 Million Rounds Played
"The combined total of more than 10.3 million virtual rounds over five years reflects a 28 percent average annual growth rate." VentureBeat GamesBeat 09/23/2013
Now, with that much info, consider that all the equipment you purchase is likewise gossamer. Your club is a code snip, the ball another code snip, etc. And if Cheng is any CEO at all, he's sold the idea to all the major equipment brands to put their brand name on it... for a fee. So, you could likely anticipate a double-whammy rake on, say, a $6.00 sleeve of Nike balls; collecting from you as well as an advertisement royalty from Nike.
But of course, WGT's main stream of revenue would be their rake on game play. 20% on Ready Go tournaments. Straightforward math there. 50 players at say 200 credits ($2.00 USD) for a full 18 at Congressional = 10,000 credits. Purse available to players: 80,000 credits. WGT rake = $20 for every Ready Go played. And that's round the clock.
Same 20% rake for country club money tournaments and fee-based (usually 100 cr) Stroke Play tournaments (200 player limit = 4,000 cr / $40 rake for WGT); about 10% on challenge match games (222 credits, 200 up for grabs, 22 for WGT),
I'm not going to do the bean-counting for you beyond that. WGT is rolling in gold and I'm happy for them for it. They have created a magnificent game, the visual aspects are amazing, the gameplay programming is spectacular (despite some goofs here and there), and everybody at WGT deserves to get filthy rich, which no doubt at least the upper rungs of the corporate ladder already are.
BUT -- that SHOULD mean they owe their cash cows, we money-spending players, some respectful consideration to keep us contented. And that's why the obvious gouge on the cost of premium golf balls, combined with the Mayfly-like short service life of them (2.5, indeed) is such an egregious insult.
This cash cow is now a raging bull bucking in the chute to demand some "customer" consideration.
And yes, of course, WGT provides free stuff to play with if you are of a demeanor to remain satisfied with it, and never covet any notion of playing competitively for WGT credits. All businesses provide something like that -- like throwing in "free" shipping (most often recouped in the sale price) of online sales of tangible goods. Businesses that continually ignore customer feedback and take an abusive course, shoving players/customers aside to grab that extra dollar, deserve to fail.
Bump those costly ($5 or over would be a reasonable threshold) balls up to 3.5 - 4.0 longevity and this raging bull goes back to placidly grazing on the rolling links of St. Andrews.