ASPIRITUS KILLED CONTRACT, SAYS INSIDE GAMING (Update)

8 August 2008

Online gambling management company responds to Aspiritus claims


The war of words between the recently shutdown Aspiritus Gaming website and its former online casino and poker management company Inside Gaming (see previous InfoPowa report) gathered momentum as the week closed, with Inside Gaming issuing a statement rejecting the Aspiritus allegations.

The statement describes some of the statements being made to members by Aspiritus in relation to Inside Gaming as totally unfounded, and alleges that the company [Aspiritus] itself decided not to continue with its online gambling operation, started in March this year using Playtech software and managed by Inside Gaming.

Giving the history of the dispute, the Inside Gaming statement reveals that the terms of the management agreement were signed off by legal representatives of Aspiritus. The statement mentions Greg Kennedy, an Australian businessman who it is believed was at one time involved in a controversial company called World Games Inc. (see http://www.calgarypolice.ca/news/whats_new_4.html) Kennedy is understood to be involved with the IT company responsible for the Aspiritus site development, Global IT Creations Pte Ltd based in Singapore.

The statement also names Greg Young as the Director of Operations of Aspiritus, and goes on to claim that the products and services agreed were delivered as per the terms of the contract, and Aspiritus began trading in March 2008 with the services of Inside Gaming.

"Aspiritus were paying all fees due up until May of this year," the Inside Gaming communication reveals. "After that date when no settlement was received by the due dates Inside Gaming queried this with Greg Young, who had no idea as to why settlement had not been made. He referred the matter to Greg Kennedy who had been responsible for authorising all the past payments.

"When only part payment was later made we requested further details as to why. It was not until some time later that we received a notification from their [Aspiritus] legal counsel that some monies were in dispute. We responded on advice from our legal counsel to all the issues raised.

"Some time later we were informed by Greg Young that Greg Kennedy had told him that he was to take instruction only from Clare Isaac, their legal counsel, and that in short he wished to pay Inside Gaming the money owed and close the operation down.

"Inside Gaming took the decision to leave the product up for its players to use until this decision was formalised and monies were paid. However, Inside Gaming then received a further communication from Ms Isaac stating that the actions of Inside Gaming had in essence forced the company out of business and that it was terminating the contract forthwith without compensation.

"In order to protect their business and to assist Aspiritus in managing the expectations of their players, Inside Gaming made a respectable offer to resolve the matter with Aspiritus and to change the terms of the contract further in their favour but this was rejected point blank by Aspiritus.

"Inside Gaming then responded to that letter, requesting payment of all outstanding monies forthwith along with payment in lieu of the notice period defined in the contract.

"To date we have had no further response or correspondence from the Company."

The statement goes on to reveal that Inside Gaming is now in the process of consulting lawyers with a view to issuing a writ for all monies owed, and will actively pursue any other operation taking over the business of Aspiritus for these monies.

"Aspiritus are in material breach of the contract with Inside Gaming but despite that Inside Gaming has endeavoured to honour commitments which meant that Aspiritus players could continue to play at the casino and poker games up until the gaming servers were stopped on 30 July," the statement claims.

"In addition they have damaged Inside Gaming’s business by refusing to pay the monies their players have lost to other players in the [iPoker] poker network, along with the other fees payable as per the agreement. Inside Gaming did attempt to reduce the risk so that players were not able to dump their funds to other players in the network, as this would be a breach of the poker network terms."

Inside Gaming claims that it has never had access to any player details except for user names or player balances, and that only now has it been informed that all offices of Aspiritus have been closed and staff made redundant. All queries appear to be being dealt with by the office in Singapore where other operations are located, including Global IT Creations Pte Ltd.

Alarmingly for Aspiritus players, the statement claims that recent email communications from Aspiritus and the now closed website contain no contact details nor any information about how players can claim back their balances. All recent attempts by Inside Gaming to contact Ms Isaac (who is believed to spend her time between Brisbane and Singapore), Kennedy and Young have failed.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa