AGCC suspends Full Tilt's licenses

[4 of a kind]

29 June 2011

Breaking news: Alderney suspends Full Tilt's operating licence 29/06/2011

Stephen Carter
Breaking news: Alderney suspends Full Tilt's operating licence

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has suspended Full Tilt’s licences, requiring the poker room to suspend all operations from the jurisdiction with immediate effect.

The AGCC said in a statement this morning: “The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by US Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on 15th April 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation."

More on this as we get it.

[vinylweatherman]

29 June 2011

Breaking news: Alderney suspends Full Tilt's operating licence 29/06/2011

Stephen Carter
Breaking news: Alderney suspends Full Tilt's operating licence

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has suspended Full Tilt’s licences, requiring the poker room to suspend all operations from the jurisdiction with immediate effect.

The AGCC said in a statement this morning: “The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by US Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on 15th April 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation."

More on this as we get it.

So, Alderney only just found out they were serving US players, which is not allowed by Alderney rules.

They acted correctly, but they really should have known what ALL the poker players have known for a long time.

This also explains why other operators have been able to claim an Alderney license, yet at the same time be offering services to the US.

These licensing bodies should employ some PLAYERS on a consultancy basis, to feed them information about what is REALLY going on.

[cerdikola]

My bankroll is frozen for the rest of the summer...

Great.

[Mousey]

My bankroll is frozen for the rest of the summer...

Great.

Were they paying anyone anyway??

[bpb]

My bankroll is frozen forever

Great.

FYP ...

[Rusty]

So, Alderney only just found out they were serving US players, which is not allowed by Alderney rules.

They acted correctly, but they really should have known what ALL the poker players have known for a long time.

This also explains why other operators have been able to claim an Alderney license, yet at the same time be offering services to the US.

These licensing bodies should employ some PLAYERS on a consultancy basis, to feed them information about what is REALLY going on.

There certainly is a reality gap between how people perceive these licensing authorities operating and how they actually operate.
For example I have contacted them on gaming matters and they simply do not understand even the most basic principles of how the various software operates (they do not even understand the term weighting apparently even though it used in every software - perhaps legally, perhaps not) and feel free to ask them how often they test software to ensure it is not being manipulated - you won't get an answer because they don't. They simply ensure it operates according to their regulations at the time of issuing the license - it is a bit of joke really and these are the best licensing authorities out there, scary.

I guess the obvious conclusion you make is correct, that this breach of licensing conditions pertains only to offering services to players in non legal jurisdictions but as far as I know there is not yet an official statement as to why the license was revoked.

[Repro]

Update 18:27 - BREAKING NEWS - Fulltilt Poker License suspended
Tags: Alderney Gambling Control Commission, Black Friday, DOJ, Full Tilt Poker, Full tilt Poker down, License, PokerStars.
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 by "A".
Earlier today the following statement was issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission:

"Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has today issued Hearing Notices under Regulation 46 of its Regulations to Vantage Ltd. Oxalic Ltd, Filco Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively trading as FULL TILT POKER.

In addtion, AGCC has issued Suspension Notices under Regulation 47 to the above named companies requiring them to suspend all operations with immediate effect.

The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by US Attorney General's Office in the Southern District of New York on 15th April 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation. The nature of the findings necessitated the taking of immediate action in the public interest.

The venue and date for the hearing will be announced in due course.

Issued by: André Wilsenach (Executive Director), Alderney Gambling Control Commission, Alderney, Channel Islands.

Date issued: 29th June 2011"

Currently all tournaments on FULL TILT POKER is paused and no one can login to the software. In addition their website is stating "Scheduled Maintenance in Progress, The system is currently down for maintenance, please check back soon!"

More info when the story develops.

UPDATE 13:24 GMT

AGCC just released an additional statement that includes in addition to the above the following:

The above named companies must, until the Suspension Notices are cancelled or the Commissioners of AGCC have reached a determination at the conclusion of the hearing convened in accordance with Regulation 46 of the Alderney eGambling Regulations, 2009, cease to exercise their eGambling licenses, which means that these licensees must from today cease to:



Register new customers
Accept deposits from existing customers
Allow existing customers to withdraw funds that are held in their accounts; and
Permit customers to participate in any form of poker game play or gambling transaction
The Alderney Gambling Control Commission will hear the matters contained in the Hearing Notices at a Regulatory Hearing which will commence at 10.00am on Tuesday 26th July 2011, at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EQ. In the even that there is a change to these details, this notice will be amended.

So far still not official statement from Fulltilt except the notice on their website. We will keep you updated as the story develops.
UPDATE 18.27 GMT

PokerStars has released the following statement:

"In light of today's news that Alderney Gambling Control Commission has suspended FULL TILT POKER's license, PokerStars wishes to assure our customers that their funds are completely safe and that our operations are completely unaffected. The Isle of Man Gaming Commission today re-affirmed that PokerStars' worldwide licensing is intact and that our operations are in full compliance with all of its requirements. PokerStars' online operations continue as normal and all funds in players' accounts are safe and available for withdrawal as usual with no delays.

PokerStars also remains in full compliance with our licenses in other jurisdictions where we are regulated, including France, Italy and Estonia.

As provided under our licensing, PokerStars has always maintained the integrity and security of our players' funds, by keeping all such funds in segregated bank accounts, always available for immediate withdrawal.

Since the actions of US Department of Justice (DOJ) in April, we have returned more than $120 million to US players and continue to act upon requests as they are received. Players outside the US have not been affected and all cash-outs have been processed without delays. Further, PokerStars entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice which expressly confirmed the company's ability to operate outside the US.

We will continue to operate as a responsible corporate citizen and are committed to serving the needs of our customers in complete compliance with our regulatory requirements."

[jstrike]

Yes, all licensing jurisdictions basically operate on a quid pro quo / pay to play basis. Shocking? The licensing boards are concerned with one thing: Keeping themselves out of hot water.

What's interesting about this is that they never had a problem with FTP doing business in Australia, China, Japan, or dozens of other countries that have hard or fuzzy laws against online gambling all these years. Only the US could break them. It's obvious that the USDOJ reached out and put some kind of heavy screws on Alderney to shut FTP down, and whatever it was, it was going to cost Alderney more money than giving up the FTP revenue stream which by a blank estimate from our internal figures would only be worth aboouuuut... USD $4-6M per year to the government there, maybe less.

Nothing worth going to war with Ronald McDonald over.

[vinylweatherman]

Yes, all licensing jurisdictions basically operate on a quid pro quo / pay to play basis. Shocking? The licensing boards are concerned with one thing: Keeping themselves out of hot water.

What's interesting about this is that they never had a problem with FTP doing business in Australia, China, Japan, or dozens of other countries that have hard or fuzzy laws against online gambling all these years. Only the US could break them. It's obvious that the USDOJ reached out and put some kind of heavy screws on Alderney to shut FTP down, and whatever it was, it was going to cost Alderney more money than giving up the FTP revenue stream which by a blank estimate from our internal figures would only be worth aboouuuut... USD $4-6M per year to the government there, maybe less.

Nothing worth going to war with Ronald McDonald over.

That is actually quite a bit for a tiny Island state like Alderney.

What seems MORE worrying is that PLAYERS have had their monies frozen by Alderney, whilst at the same time there is supposed to be an agreement in place with the DoJ that would allow US players to cash out and close their accounts.

There could be more to this than merely serving US players. Maybe Alderney has discovered that the operation was seriously underfunded, and freezing everything pending an investigation was the only way to ensure that EVERYBODY would be treated fairly. I expect the OPERATOR'S assets have been frozen too, probably to prevent them moving money out of the reach of Alderney regulators.

Player money is supposed to be separate from company money, and maybe Alderney has seen further problems with this.

This means that ALL players, not just in the US, have lost access to their money for now. I am sure though that Alderney will make sure that players get their money back in the end, even if it means the operator being wound up. Having players lose money in an Alderney regulated operation would be a blow to their credibilty.

[Rusty]

Does anyone have an update on this news?