As Full Tilt Poker‘s hearing with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission is scheduled for September 19th, both parties make important statements in regards to how the meeting will commence.
While the most important thing on players’ minds is when the repayment of their funds will begin, the AGCC and Full Tilt Poker have released comments that are more geared towards the meeting’s privacy requests, along with further consolatory statements from FTP to help re-establish player rapport.
The statement from the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, and Executive Director André Wilsenach, went as follows:
“I am pleased that the FTP hearing will continue as scheduled, as was argued on my behalf. However, I am disappointed with the tribunal’s decision that notwithstanding my arguments to the contrary, the hearing will be held in private. I believe the public has a right to know the reasoning behind the decisions to suspend FTP’s licenses and call a hearing, and to hear the evidence that will be put forward on my behalf. It is my understanding that the tribunal conducted a difficult balancing exercise of the interests of the various parties, taking into account the legal arguments for and against further postponing the hearing, and for and against allowing the public to attend the proceedings.”
As stated previously, Full Tilt Poker has made numerous attempts to save face throughout the duration of their legal proceedings, and their most recent statement solidifies that fact. Continuing to divert attention towards the acclamation of a financial investor, and the possibility that over 250 staff positions could be cut within the company to acknowledge overwhelming legal obligations, the company insists that it’s taking all of the necessary steps to ensure that players are paid back as quickly as possible.
Their statement reads like this:
“On April 15th 2011 the United States Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment against a number of individuals employed by major online poker operators. After the issuance of that indictment and a related civil case brought by the United States government, Full Tilt Poker withdrew from the US market. Then in a related action, on June 29th, 2011, Full Tilt Poker had its operating licenses suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.
As a result, Pocket Kings Ltd. (provider of marketing and technology services to Full Tilt Poker) has adopted a cost optimization program and estimates that they need to reduce their costs by approximately €12m. This program is intended to streamline the company’s operations in order to better position itself for future growth and profitability in Full Tilt Poker’s markets outside of the U.S.
If all of the required cost savings were to be achieved through redundancies, approximately 250 positions could be affected; however the exact number cannot be confirmed until the conclusion of a consultation process with its workforce.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Pocket Kings firmly believes it has a very strong future in Full Tilt Poker’s Non-US Markets, and is fully committed to ensuring Full Tilt Poker restores the site and repay players in full. To this end, Full Tilt Poker has retained Sea Port Group Securities, LLC as its financial advisor with regard to raising capital and/or assisting in securing a strategic partner in order to fund continued operations of Full Tilt Poker’s non-U.S. business. The Company is in active discussions with several parties and will provide a further statement in due course.”
With the “final” meeting set for today, both Full Tilt Poker and the involved players are hoping to put an end to the catastrophic shut-down that forced both U.S. and international players out of action for nearly five months.
Full Tilt Poker’s main concern between their last hearing and the meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. today, was to secure a strategic investor that could help them close the gap between their current monetary figures and the capital they need to refund player accounts.
Regardless of whether Full Tilt Poker does acquire the necessary capital, players from the U.S. still won’t be able to take part in real-money games on the site, as that has become a separate issue entirely.
As mentioned in their last report, Full Tilt Poker will be focusing much of it’s advertising and marketing campaigns around their international clientele, in order to regain it’s portion of the online gaming market and re-establish its dominance in regards to virtual poker.
But despite all of the hoopla surrounding the AGCC, U.S. Department of Justice and Full Tilt Poker, we all must be very realistic about the potential outcomes of the meeting scheduled for this morning.
So, what may happen?
In the best case scenario, Full Tilt Poker will have already been in negotiations with a lucrative investor, and after executing a business plan that’s primary responsibility is flooding the company with a ton of liquidity, they can have their license reinstated for operation.
But there are several problems with this solution.
This is somewhat unlikely, considering that Full Tilt Poker has delayed meetings twice already — once on July 26th and most recently on September 15th — in order to procure additional funds in any way manageable. Having a wealthy investor seems to be the most crucial component, but one that’s been lacking ever since Full Tilt Poker was seized in mid-April.
Add in the possibility that a storm of international players could flee from the site after re-opening, demanding further equity to process their payouts, things could become increasing expensive for the new primary stakeholder.
In another possible situation, Full Tilt Poker could operate exclusively under their secondary license with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, although it would be hard for Full Tilt Poker to regain any credibility without addressing most of the intrinsic company issues they’ve directly brought in public view.
It’s also unknown whether or not they would be able to pay back any players, although even the most inattentive followers to this saga could arrive at a sensible hypothesis to that question.
Or, arguably the most dreadful of outcomes, Full Tilt Poker could continue to postpone these meetings. With this scenario, we’ll likely be hearing a similar barrage of public statements and unavoidable delays that have been plaguing the company for months.
But at least it would be better than the company declaring bankruptcy.
Hopefully, Full Tilt Poker won’t need to go that route.
If you’re still looking to get into some online poker action, hop on to Titan Poker or 888 Poker, and if you’re from the ‘States you can still play on BetOnline Poker.
