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Full Tilt Poker Shutdown Update

January 2, 2011

Full Tilt Poker Shut Down UpdatesThe Full Tilt Poker shutdown continues into its 4th month and there may finally be an end in sight. French investors Groupe Bernard Tapie has reached a tentative deal with Full Tilt Poker pending a positive outcome by the US Department of Justice.  The US DOJ which has recently called Full Tilt Poker a "Global Ponzi Scheme" seized over $346 million of Full Tilt Poker's funds which is more than the estimated $300 million of player funds that are owed to players worldwide. Players are upset and want there money back while new players are signing up in droves at poker sites that are properly managed. This begs the question: can a new investor bring Full Tilt Poker back? The gaming commission of Alderney revoked Full Tilt's Licence last week but has stated that it can be reinstated if a suitable deal is reached that includes the return of player funds.

Full Tilt Sale Pending

Full Tilt Poker has signed an agreement with a well funded French investor Bernard Tapie.  Mr. Tapie is a corporate turn around specialist who turned around well known Adidas Corporation. He is also well known if France as an actor and politician. He has agreed to buy Full Tilt Poker as of January 30th. In the agreement he has agreed to return all of the player funds, but it is contingent on a positive ruling by the US DOJ in the case (meaning they wont come after him or Full Tilt after the deal is done). The group would also replace the management at Full Tilt. The target date for the deal to be closed and Full Tilt Poker to reopen is by June 2012.

Can a New Investor Bring Full Tilt Poker Back?

Bringing back Full Tilt will be no simple matter. There are hundreds of millions of dollars owed to players and they are pissed by the betrayal of their trust and by the loss of access their funds. Most of those funds are still there and are being held by the US DOJ. Whether or not those funds are released the first order of business is to return players money. In Canada and some other countries like the UK, players are signing up at poker sites that are soundly managed. Some of the players used to play at Full Tilt, but a lot of them are new players looking for a safe place with good action. Canadians have been staying away from sites with US exposure, the two non US facing sites that have benefited the most are 888poker and Bodog, with traffic levels up sharply at both sites since June 15th. The sites have substantial improvements in their software and the bonuses have increased to record levels. For Full Tilt to return they have to compete with that and it is not going to be an easy task. Players have been able to build their bankrolls faster with softer competition than at Full Tilt and bonuses like a 200% deposit match at Bodog (regularly 100%) and a constant stream of engaging promotions and some very slick software at 888poker. Those players are having a blast and filling their pockets at those sites and it is doubtful that those players would choose to move to Full Tilt unless it is clear that they pay out all player balances at a premium, have very substantial funding, the case with the DOJ is settled, communicate openly with their players and they offer something completely over the top.

Full Tilt Licence Revoked by Alderney Gaming Commission

The Alderney Gaming Commission Revoked Full tilt's Gaming Licence after a January 19th hearing that was originally scheduled for July 26th but adjourned. the reason for the licence being revoked was that Full Tilt has mislead the Gaming Commission and had stated that $300 million in funds that were seized by the US DOJ were still in their control.  The AGCC does not have jurisdiction over Full tilt Poker since the gaming licence has been revoked.  They did leave the door open to new investors that should the financial requirements be met and to repay players balances due to them. 

DOJ Says Full Tilt is a Ponzi Scheme

The US DOJ states that owners of Full Tilt including Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafael Furst were really just duping poker players out of their money in a global Ponzi Scheme. It is stated that Full Tilt Poker owes players $300 million dollars and that the DOJ has seized $346 million of that.  The DOJ states that Full Tilt Poker paid its 23 owners more than $443 million dollars since the company started operations.  Part of the shortfall at Full Tilt in addition to the $300 million that the DOJ seized comes from two different areas.  First with the difficulty processing transactions in the US many players were able to make a deposit to Full Tilt and have their balance credited - and be able to withdraw that amount - which some did, without the poker company actually receiving the funds - some players did this multiple times for tens of thousands of dollars each. The estimated shortfall from deposit shortfalls is over 128 million dollars The second part of the funding shortfall was from an Australian payment processing company that Daniel Tzvetkoff ran, it is claimed that up to $42 million dollars was Full Tilt's share of an estimated $100 million that was due to us facing poker sites but never paid to them.  Those facts taken together make it look like there should have been the money available to fund player balances and these three hits which were all related to the US market left Full Tilt unable to repay player balances.  We would like to remind you that the safest online poker sites for Canadians have no US exposure.

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