Full Tilt Poker looking to be saved by European investors

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Full Tilt Poker looking to be saved by European investors

This is a follow up to my Full Tilt Poker article a few days ago.

It looks like Full Tilt may have been offered a lifeline from a group of investors who are set to inject enough money to enable the beleaguered poker room to settle its debts. From the Los Angeles Times:

Full Tilt Poker to be sold to European investors

Attorneys associated with Full Tilt said the company signed an agreement Thursday with a group of investors who would put up enough money to pay back players and in doing so attain a majority stake in Full Tilt's Irish parent company, Pocket Kings.

The money is also intended to allow the company to settle a civil lawsuit brought against it by the U.S. attorney's office at the same time as the criminal indictment, the attorneys said.

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This was confirmed in a media release from the Alderney regulators two days ago:

Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) is in discussions, all be it at an early stage, with its licensees trading as Full Tilt Poker and a third party concerning the prospective refinancing of Full Tilt Poker.

The objective of these discussions is to enable the site to re-open to its current and prospective players.

So, it would appear that this looks like being that rarest of animals, an online poker room that closes but ultimately settles its debts and possibly even lives to fight another day. This is certainly good news for the players, a lot of whom haven't been paid since the DOJ filed charges against Full Tilt in April.

It wasn't all good news for Full Tilt. A new lawsuit has been brought against them for the problems caused to US players by the bank fruad they engaged in to avoid detection by the US authorities:

Class action against Full Tilt

9) Unbeknownst to US players, the funds they deposited in their individual player accounts were fraudulently processd by the Full Tilt enterprise. Due, in part, to the passage of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the enterprise was unable to process echeck and credit card transactions from US players. These restrictions drove the enterprise to engage in the illegal acts described above, and, more thoroughly, herein.

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Ironically, as a stake holder in Full Tilt, renowned poker player Phil Ivey is named as one of the defendants. Until very recently, Ivey himself had a pending lawsuit against Full Tilt, which he subsequently withdrew.

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