Serious problems at Purple Lounge

[DiamondGeezer]

This is quite staggering when you take into account that the shots at Purple Lounge were being called by the knob in charge at Media Corp, both when Sara Vincent was there as notional md and subsequent to her appointment as interim CEO of Media Corp.

This is truly disgraceful, and very frustrating to think that these white collar incompetents may get away with it.

It does cement one perception, though - the LGA is utterly useless from a player point of view and has zero credibility.

This is the bit that really gets me, taken from the Media Corp press statement:

The Board regrets any corporate failings in the past and seeks to assure shareholders that it is exploring routes to try, in some way, to mitigate the expected player losses, though this is against a background where the Group has loaned well over £1m to the division since its acquisition in October 2009. The Board does not believe that the Group will incur any further liabilities in respect of Purple Lounge over and above the realisation of the above loan.


It's possible that PL still had substantial cash in the bank at the time of liquidation. It's possible they could have paid players but chose to roll up their creditor balance instead. Media Corp then call in their loan and put PL into liquidation. From those weasel words it sounds like Media Corp will be getting all the cash left in PL to repay their loan, with the players, I suspect, left with nothing because their loan may well be higher up in the creditor order than the player funds (the liquidator has a set order for creditiors).

So by liquidating Purple Lounge Media Corp are avoiding most of the losses and getting as much of their loan back as they can, leaving the players to suffer a total loss I suspect. And it's all legal and above board to do that it seems .

 

[questa]

Questa,

The response on the 2+2 poker forum seems relatively muted however, with a number of players saying they became suspicious when PL offered them overly generous rakeback deals. Ofcouse it's always hard to gauge what people are saying in public and the true picture could be very different.

The last set of accounts PL fired can be seen in summary here:

Link Removed (Old/Invalid)

The total current liabilities at 30/09/2010 were £212,285 and the player balances would have fallen under this being trade creditors. Ofcourse so much could have happened since but at that point the liabilities figure looks reasonable.

All I am really saying is if there is a MASSIVE amount of money owed then it would have been apparant for a long time when you look at the historical levels.

Well assuming what people have posted or told me private is true, then pretty much every creditor has made themselves known, which seems pretty unlikely.

 

[dunover]

I believe only the deposit are covered, not the winnings. This may be why there has been an almost universal shift among UK card issuers to treating gambling transactions as "cash advance" rather than "purchase". This means the card issuer would NOT be jointly liable as they would be for a "purchase". It seems the banks were already aware that online gambling operators were too high a risk to allow joint liabilty under the consumer credit act to apply, so found a legal way to remove this responsibilty.

Those players that used a card that treated their PL deposits as purchases DO have a chance to make a claim now that the company has been formally wound up.

This IS already affecting the rest of the industry, as in the thread about JF no longer flushing withdrawals, the recent revelation that they have now gone to 48 hour pending from 24 hours has had one player thinking this is a warning sign, and that players should heed it BECAUSE this is all the warning we got from PL when things first started to slip, and those that didn't heed those early signs are the ones that got screwed. This is the FIRST time I have seen a move to 48 hour pending taken as a warning that a group is about to implode.

Operators therefore need to tread carefully, the player community is not in the mood for even minor bad news, no matter how reputable the operator.

Yes, this is a good point Vinyl. I got absolutely a$$-raped by an MBNA m/c at min £5 per deposit, treated as a cash advance. Even for a 20 buy-in.
Barclaycard treat as purchases, as do Natwest cards with no fee.
It has yet to be argued in case, AFAIK, that a transaction online can actually constitute a 'cash advance' as the funds go straight to the vendor from the card co. electronically in the same manner as a purchase, even when buying chips. You can get an online cash advance IF the funds are paid directly to you, the cardholder's bank account.
I think, yet again, we are being ripped off. I would reckon that card companies wouldn't get away with this if challenged via the FSA, Ombudsman or Courts as firstly, the funds are paid electronically direct to the vendor like any other purchase on behalf of and not to the cardholder, and secondly the fee associated is actually to cover actual cash to the person.
I think you'll find Vinyl that the motivation for the card co's treating gaming transactions as 'cash advances' is less to do with being a firewall between consumer protection responsibilities and casinos, but more a simple exercise in greed, a big fat cash cow; tens of thousands of customers who would never traditionally w/d cash with their credit cards from an ATM and pay outrageous fees and interest can now be shafted for gaming purchases, AND in case people don't know, cash advances attract interest from the second they are made and not after the statement date like purchases.
If you were fully correct here then surely the biggest card provider Barclaycard WOULD do it as cash advances as they have the biggest exposure?

 

[DiamondGeezer]

Barclaycard changed their terms a month or two ago, they now charge for all gambling deposits.

Very few players will use CC's due to the charges levvied on gambling transactions which is 3% I think plus a min charge too. Nearly everyone will use debit cards or a processor like Neteller.

 

[Tengil]

To pop in shortly to correct a few misunderstandings plus some speculating.

£200K was just a pure guess. It was based on what I read from the P&L last year when they lost £900K. I was thinking as a ratio of this then say £300K would be plausable. Without knowing the working capital balances of the company it is impossible to guess really but I was assuming MG had controls in place so that the player balances (excluding progressives) would have to be in some sort of ratio to the cash at bank. So for example the total player balances could be allowed to run up to twice the cash at bank.

Or to put it another way they've been taking the losses to the P&L and were losing £75K a month, so how could a player balance shortfall escalate to a figure greater than four months average loss say?

What I am trying to say is that there must be certain fundamental ratios they must have to adhere to regarding working capital. If what you say is anywhere near true then it raises the question of were they trading whilst insolvant?

Personally I can't see how they could have missing player funds of more than six months losses. A million missing would be more than a whole year's losses.

Anyone that does have a belief that missing funds are on this scale ought to be contacting the SFO.

I guess you are not a poker player? PL was mainly a poker room, not a casino. Lets say a poker room has their player funds segregated and protected they only need a small (relative to the player funds) amount of cash to operate smoothly. Even if they dont they still only keep a low amount of cash as history has proven.

And players need to have an decent roll to play, a 5/10 reg can easily have over 30k in his account.

Questa,

The response on the 2+2 poker forum seems relatively muted however, with a number of players saying they became suspicious when PL offered them overly generous rakeback deals. Ofcouse it's always hard to gauge what people are saying in public and the true picture could be very different.

The last set of accounts PL fired can be seen in summary here:

Link Removed (Old/Invalid)

The total current liabilities at 30/09/2010 were £212,285 and the player balances would have fallen under this being trade creditors. Ofcourse so much could have happened since but at that point the liabilities figure looks reasonable.

All I am really saying is if there is a MASSIVE amount of money owed then it would have been apparant for a long time when you look at the historical levels.

No, player balances would certainly not have fallen under this.

Doubt the figures owed are over 10 million, over 5 maybe? Many knew that PLs business model was a disaster, high RB (anyone had under 50%?), largeish rake races etc. and not to forget that they were on the MG network. So many players sacrificed a bit of RB and instead played on Ladbrokes or Unibet, the higher you go in stakes the less the rake matters. PL still was one of the bigger MG skins tough, 3rd or 4th probably.

--

LGAs actions or lack of thereof doesnt come as an surprise, there have been so many failed LGA operators that have left the players unpaid recent years. And licensing jurisdictions washing their hands seems to be industry standard, just look at AGCC and FTP or KGC and Cereus. They didnt try to say that the operators had their player balances segregated tough.

And seems quite obvious IMO they were kicked out from MG. Why leave for a even smaller network that is declining quite fast. IGT/Entraction is a total ghost town nowadays. For example the highest now running is one NL200 table and one PLO200. You only find players at micro stakes.
Only reason IMO why they would have left voluntarely is if the penalties from MG were too high.

 

[dunover]

Barclaycard changed their terms a month or two ago, they now charge for all gambling deposits.

Very few players will use CC's due to the charges levvied on gambling transactions which is 3% I think plus a min charge too. Nearly everyone will use debit cards or a processor like Neteller.

Barclaycard Platinum 6.5% interest, IMO the best card on the market. I have just looked at my statement for june (27 April up until 26 May) and yes this must have been very recent, here is a copy of the last one 24 may where they charged 3% on a £30 deposit:

24 May 12
Netplaytvgrp, 0207 819 9185
Retailer name: Netplaytvgrp
Retailer number: 6453088
Business type: Betting Inc Lottery, Casino
Town: 0207 819 9185
Country: Great Britain
PIN Used: No
Cardholder: *****
Mr. ******** Leisure 30.00

24 May 12
Cash Transaction Fee
FOR £30.00 ON 24 MAY
Retailer name: 24 May 30.00
PIN Used: Signature used
Cardholder: ****
Mr ***** Add 0.89

I'm glad you noiticed that!!!! Fortunately I made about 100 transactions BEFORE this one on 24 May, so the change must've occurred about 20 May onwards and I haven't used it since the 24 May when the above 30 pound deposit occurred, and all the ones prior have not been charged. Phew!

I do notice however they have been the fairest of all cards that charge, see how the fee is 3% of the amount with NO minimum of say £3, or £5 in the case of MBNA cards. This seems to be a different sort of charge, a fee specific to gaming transactions as opposed to a cash advance fee which always has a minimum of £3 +

No more barclaycard for me then. Natwest don't charge at present though, I just checked.

PS If you (like me) have cards that still do NOT charge, thus all deposits and w/d's are free with no commission going to a payment processor, which would you choose lol.... IMO payment processors are simply skimming the gravy and the house has a few % edge on me already without another couple of percent going to these people. It's just as easy to deposit from a stored debit/credit card as Skrill say.

 

[DiamondGeezer]

No, player balances would certainly not have fallen under this.

Doubt the figures owed are over 10 million, over 5 maybe? Many knew that PLs business model was a disaster, high RB (anyone had under 50%?), largeish rake races etc. and not to forget that they were on the MG network. So many players sacrificed a bit of RB and instead played on Ladbrokes or Unibet, the higher you go in stakes the less the rake matters. PL still was one of the bigger MG skins tough, 3rd or 4th probably.

--

Spiderlegz thanks for the input. I'm certainly not trying to argue with anyone, just trying to establish a picture of the financial movements.

£5 MILLION would be simply mindboggling, that's FIVE times the last annual loss. I just don't see how they could hide a figure like that. In 2010 the Net Assets of PL were only £700K! The MG software must have an accounting side to it and the auditors would see the list of player balances. Don't really see how a UK plc could hide losses like this even if PL are a subsiduary. A casino would be a straightforward company to audit. You have a bunch of creditors (the players) and a sum of cash in your bank, with the difference between the two being the P&L. While that may be a gross over simplication I can assure everyone it's a straightforward process in accounting terms. They would have had to have created false bank records to represent the missing funds or something. Or they could have falsified the player balances totals somehow. It's not exactly something one person could do on their own.

If it really is £5 MIL I would have thought it would have hit the mainstream press in the UK by now. A Spreadbetting firm Worldspreads collapsed in April with £13m of client's money missing and there was a lot of publicity in the media.


Edit - Hmm I can see how a problem could arise on the poker side since players are playing against each other with the house earning the rake. But surely the net flows of player funds between MG poker rooms has to be reconciled regularly?

 

[DiamondGeezer]

Right I understand my error now - I was looking at accounts of Purple Lounge Ltd and not Purple Lounge (Malta) Ltd.

Looking at the 2011 accounts the liabilities can be seen and the majority of these will be the player balances. In 2011 the PL liabilities were 2,527,000. Even at this point liabilities were far higher than assets. So total losses are likely to be well north of this figure.

Can't really understand why poker sites didn't spot this:

 

[questa]

Told you.

I expect the final total is 8 figures.

 

[jetset]

I believe this mess is worthy of one of the Casinomeister annual award brickbats - it has to be among the worst operator screw-ups perpetrated on the players this year.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Should this still be on the accredited casino list?.....

 

[GamblerXXXl]

Bad news

No action is taking, or anything new from the purple lounge, and yes the purple lounge still on the accredited list! All the way in this debacle it has been on the accredited list, how is this possible maybe the big boss still wanted to catch some affiliate profits, if they been taking over by a good casino!!

I am a big loser in all this, lost for over 3K playing poker, other friends of mine like 20K. What is going to happen I think nothing nobody talks about it for 5 days now. 2 weeks and everything is forgotten it, But the the players are the big losers in all this, how can the trust of online gambling being resolved after this major hit!

From my experience with this sort companies, that no people are going to get payed,the tax and banks are the first people who can hold there hands up first and for what there is left over maybe the players? Nobody knows..

I regret to inform that other casino's showing this kind of issues to it is a uncertain business that your money is secure with casinos! If you lost money to this maybe help you, this is what I did..

-Send an email to purple lounge creditors
-Send an email to my paymentprovider
-Send an email to LGA
-Filed a complaint against Mediacorpllc ( on the stock exchange)

I am still talking with a laywer to take steps against Mediacorp.

It is not much better doing something then nothing!

 

[Simmo!]

No action is taking, or anything new from the purple lounge, and yes the purple lounge still on the accredited list! All the way in this debacle it has been on the accredited list, how is this possible maybe the big boss still wanted to catch some affiliate profits, if they been taking over by a good casino!!

Yeah cos it makes perfect business sense to send players to a dead website. Take a 7 day break and when you come back, don't insult your host. It's disrespectful and it's rude.

 

[The Dude]

No action is taking, or anything new from the purple lounge, and yes the purple lounge still on the accredited list! All the way in this debacle it has been on the accredited list, how is this possible maybe the big boss still wanted to catch some affiliate profits, if they been taking over by a good casino!! ...

Well the "big boss" is back.

For a newbie, that's a pretty cocky attitude. I'm upgrading this to a 30 day suspension for gross disrespect.

PL was removed on 25 April from the Accredited Section. During my "on the road time" an older file was uploaded a couple of weeks ago that still had PL's dead link up. Making an assertion that doing this was profit driven is ludicrous. Besides, I have been just as outspoken on this subject as anyone else. Forget this one?
https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/serious-problems-at-purple-lounge.49194/

Feel free to come back when you can behave like an adult.

 

[trebord]

lol can't believe this guy making these insinuations despite the link to PL being dead. Dead link is a DEAD LINK!!

I keep coming back to this thread hoping someone has got something back but I've counted my (In the PL account) money as being dead , I've emailed them threatening lawyer action but that's all it is, a threat.

Putting this down to experience and sticking with 32red group now always and forever.

 

[BingoT]

Purple Lounge Dirty Deeds video from J.Todd

The Purple Lounge Casino & Poker Room is filing for liquidation, but not before canceling their Malta gaming License. In doing so, they effectively removed all player protection in what looks like an obvious manipulation of the system and a quick cash grab

 

[jetset]

Despite the OP's silly and unwarranted attitude problem with CM, he has suggested steps that I think bear repeating:

QUOTE

-Send an email to purple lounge creditors
-Send an email to my paymentprovider
-Send an email to LGA
-Filed a complaint against Mediacorpllc ( on the stock exchange)

I am still talking with a laywer to take steps against Mediacorp.

UNQUOTE

It is incredibly frustrating to think that the corporate shysters who perpetrated this mess may walk away scott free, leaving probably significant numbers of players out of pocket, and at least the OP has actually done something beyond complaining about the situation.

 

[jetset]

The Pokerfuse.com information website has linked the recent approval of IGT in Nevada with the Purple Lounge fiasco in a piece that is well worth reading imo.

Here's an extract:

QUOTE

Unmentioned in the hearing was the recent demise of Purple Lounge, a poker room on the Entraction poker network that failed to refund its players’ deposits after “historic operational and financial failings” forced the company into liquidation.

In January 2012, Purple Lounge moved from Microgaming Network to Entraction. Apparently no financial discrepancies were discovered as a part of this migration, yet just months later the poker room was closed and, after a month with little communication, its owner Media Corp began liquidation proceedings.

Like all skins on Entraction, Purple Lounge was licensed under the Malta LGA which requires players’ funds to be held in segregated accounts. Despite this, Media Corp has indicated that loss of player funds is “expected.” IGT issued no statement regarding its position on the failure of one of its platform licensees.

UNQUOTE

Perhaps another avenue to pursue for unpaid players? The connection here is that IGT bought Entraction as part of its internet gambling strategy.

 

[$97 All in.]

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Notice of General Meeting
Date : 12/06/2012 @ 07:00
Source : UK Regulatory (RNS & others)
Stock : Media Corp (MDC)
Quote : 0.45 0.0 (0.00%) @ 07:49
HOME » LSE » M » Media Corporation share price

Notice of General Meeting

12 June 2012

Media Corporation Plc("Media Corp" or the "Group")

Notice of General Meeting

The Board of Media Corp announces that it has published and posted to Shareholders a circular for the purpose of convening a General Meeting on 5 July 2012 at which Resolutions relating to a Capital Reorganisation and Directors' authorities to allot shares will be proposed.

A copy of the circular is available to read at www.mediacorpplc.com, or in hard copy from the company's registered office.

Contacts: Media Corporation Plc+44 20 7618 9000Phil JacksonChairmanorAdam Fraser-HarrisInterim CEOorNorthland Capital Partners Limited+ 44 20 7796 8800Luke Cairns / Rod Venables (Nominated Adviser)orKatie Shelton (Joint Broker)orXCAP SecuritiesJon Bellis / Karen Kelly (Joint Broker), + 44 207 101 7070orBishopsgate CommunicationsNick Rome, + 44 20 7562 3350

 

[vinylweatherman]

Interim results to March 2012

Internet Gaming

Whilst revenues grew, losses increased significantly during the first sixth months of the financial year. This was largely due to us changing poker suppliers and negative press related to a legal action from CD Casino which is detailed below.

Since acquiring Purple Lounge the Company has invested over £900,000 in Purple Lounge. With the erosion of Purple Lounge’s margin the continued financial support of Purple Lounge was becoming unsustainable and resulted in the suspension of the Casino and Poker room and, at the Group’s request, the suspension of the Maltese gaming licence. We plan to restructure this business with a view to reducing costs significantly (a process which is already underway) whilst maintaining the existing customer base and player balances.

The suspension of Purple Lounge has resulted in the joint venture with the Hippodrome, as announced on 26 January 2012, to be put on hold whilst a full review of the Group’s gaming operations is undertaken. The board remain in discussions with the Hippodrome in the hope of resurrecting the venture.
There will be further announcements made in relation to this restructuring in due course.

It seems the company knew there was a developing crisis, yet decided to carry on taking players' deposits right to the bitter end, rather than recognising early on that the problems were growing, and arranging an orderly exit whilst players' balances were still intact.

They took a gamble with players' balances that they could ride out the crisis by dipping into them and hoping that incoming deposits would balance the books "on the quiet". This was against the rules of the license they then held, yet they went ahead, and Malta didn't notice. It seems the "big bosses" at Media Corp were aware of what was being done.

Whilst they noted that they expected a restructuring and cost cutting exercise would enable them to relaunch with the existing player base and balances, a mere 2 weeks later they decided this was not viable, and placed the company into liquidation.

This looks like negligence on the part of Media Corp board members, since if they were injecting £900K into the subsidiary, they should have taken a thorough look at how it was being spent. It would have been better spent on making an orderly exit, paying players, and relaunching with Intabet and their credibilty intact.

They also note that their switch from MGS to Entraction was a major contributory factor to the failure of PL, yet they were the ones that made this decision to switch. This is a demonstration of incompetence at it's best, failing to do proper market research of their existing player base as to how this switch would affect their participation. Had they done this, they would have discovered that it would trigger a significant migration away from the PL brand, one that could not be balanced by gaining new players.

This also suggests that they lied to Malta, a lie of omission, by telling them that they intended to restructure and relaunch with player balances intact, even though they had not actually checked that the monies were still there. Malta clearly didn't check either, and just took the statement of intent at face value.

 

[Tengil]

The Pokerfuse.com information website has linked the recent approval of IGT in Nevada with the Purple Lounge fiasco in a piece that is well worth reading imo.

Here's an extract:

QUOTE

Unmentioned in the hearing was the recent demise of Purple Lounge, a poker room on the Entraction poker network that failed to refund its players’ deposits after “historic operational and financial failings” forced the company into liquidation.

In January 2012, Purple Lounge moved from Microgaming Network to Entraction. Apparently no financial discrepancies were discovered as a part of this migration, yet just months later the poker room was closed and, after a month with little communication, its owner Media Corp began liquidation proceedings.

Like all skins on Entraction, Purple Lounge was licensed under the Malta LGA which requires players’ funds to be held in segregated accounts. Despite this, Media Corp has indicated that loss of player funds is “expected.” IGT issued no statement regarding its position on the failure of one of its platform licensees.

UNQUOTE

Perhaps another avenue to pursue for unpaid players? The connection here is that IGT bought Entraction as part of its internet gambling strategy.

They seem to have their base covered.

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IGTs reply in English.

And in the end they would rightly blame LGA.

 

[whatever]

12 June 2012

Media Corporation Plc("Media Corp" or the "Group")

Notice of General Meeting

The Board of Media Corp announces that it has published and posted to Shareholders a circular for the purpose of convening a General Meeting on 5 July 2012 at which Resolutions relating to a Capital Reorganisation and Directors' authorities to allot shares will be proposed.

A copy of the circular is available to read at www.mediacorpplc.com, or in hard copy from the company's registered office.

In that document they reworded the paragraph about Purple Lounge liquidation:

The Group had no cross guarantees with any company in the Purple Lounge group and hence the
Board do not believe that the Group will incur any further liabilities in respect of Purple Lounge. The
Board are also optimistic that they can achieve some return of capital from the value loaned into
Purple Lounge and can salvage some value for shareholders in the future.

In other words, shareholders get whatever they can from players' money.

 

[dunover]

Semantics, denials, obfuscation and waffle from MC.

At the end of the day it will need sorting out in a court, a sort of test case to establish procedure and liability and responsibility which can be used as a rule in any future cases of a similar nature.

MC/PL are in the cosy position whereby their claimants don't seem to know where to 'shoot' i.e. Gambling Commission, Maltese LGA, MC the holding company, IGT, Civil Courts etc.

All we can hope for is that someone owed money is determined enough and well sponsored enough to sort through the possibilities, establish a strategy and start shooting from the hip so there is a clear precedent in the future.

This has now become one for the lawyers; hopefully one of them will find the most appropriate path, expose the loopholes and thus the failings which have led to players being scammed. Then, ever optimistic, the legislation/amendments might follow which turns the GC from a toothless rubber-stamping bureaucracy into an entity to which players can easily gain resolution.

The obvious solution to this mess would be that any casino operating to UK players has to reserve funds on an escrow account.

 

[$97 All in.]

Former Media Corp boss Jason Drummond sells 10 million shares.

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Shareholding Notification

Media Corp announces that Jason Drummond has notified the Company that he has sold 10,000,000 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company. As a result, Jason Drummond no longer has a notifiable interest in the Company's issued ordinary share capital.

 

[vinylweatherman]

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Shareholding Notification

Media Corp announces that Jason Drummond has notified the Company that he has sold 10,000,000 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company. As a result, Jason Drummond no longer has a notifiable interest in the Company's issued ordinary share capital.

Bailing out with what little value he can. He knows far more than the new management have yet found out, so this is surely a very bad sign that he feels the need to bail when on paper Media Corp are suggesting that from now "the only way is up".

When it comes to IGT getting a foothold in the US, there are those in power determined to do their utmost to prevent any progress towards the legalisation of online gambling. It is they who can do the most damage to IGT and media Corp's chances, and even the chance of the industry as a whole. For those in the US who argued that online gambling could never be allowed because players could not be safeguarded despite the regulatory bodies that were overseeing the industry, this is a fantastic "I told you so" argument against those who believe the industry has matured enough to provide proper safeguards for players.

In effect, Media Corp have dropped their peers right in the proverbial by dodging their responsibilities, and "playing the system" in order to negate the regulatory conditions they signed up to with the LGA.

Players owed large sums could ally themselves with the anti lobby within the US, and this may persuade the industry to sit up and take notice, and ensure that THIS time, they WILL enact measures to ensure another scandal of this nature can never happen again.

Media Corp should never be allowed to run away from these obligations by launching a replacement eGaming venture as a new subsidiary, rather than transferring their old PL players and their balances (as initially promised on May 16th update).

It is up to affiliates to ensure that any new Media Corp venture is linked to information about what happened to players when their last one failed. Players will at least be able to make an informed choice as to whether to support a new venture overseen by the same company that screwed over players in the old venture when it failed, and are on record to say they did nothing wrong in doing so.

Splitting PL into a Maltese subsidiary was itself an artificial structure, driven mainly to tax benefits, rather than the board of PL having genuine independence from the board of Media Corp.


If placed under enough pressure, and consequent threat to their future credibilty as a trustworthy business, they WILL shift their stubborn view to one more favourable to players left out in the cold.

 

[whatever]

The ease with which they managed to pull this off is just amazing!!

Management liquidates a failing gaming company, announces player losses while promising "return of capital" to the shareholders in order to... launch another gaming company How's that for rubbing it in my face?

And the LGA is laughing at me also... I submitted a complaint 2 weeks ago, phoned them, sent an e-mail to the complaints officer directly asking for some kind of reaction. I got nothing back and I have always been polite and clear.

 

[jetset]

The questionable manoeuvring and unfairness of this entire sorry affair still rankles with me, and I'm not even a Purple Lounge player

What I would like to see is shareholders at the July 5 General Meeting asking questions and seeking answers that go beyond the anticipated "oh that was the previous management - they've gone now."

Edited to add that I am still intrigued by this recurring reference to the litigation with CD Casino...what's that all about?

 

[vinylweatherman]

The questionable manoeuvring and unfairness of this entire sorry affair still rankles with me, and I'm not even a Purple Lounge player

What I would like to see is shareholders at the July 5 General Meeting asking questions and seeking answers that go beyond the anticipated "oh that was the previous management - they've gone now."

Edited to add that I am still intrigued by this recurring reference to the litigation with CD Casino...what's that all about?

Surely this too could be dismissed with an "oh that was the previous management - they've gone now.", unless of course this defence they are trying with players would not actually work if it went to court.

Maybe it is yet another tactic designed to deter players from proceeding against Media Corp, but at the same time they don't believe it is going to deter CD casino.

I also wonder whether CD casino are taking action for something PL did (or didn't do), as it is PL, not Media Corp, that was the eGaming side of the business.

If CD Casino manage to bring a case against Media Corp for something that happened between them and PL, it is logical to assume that players too could take action against Media Corp in lieu of PL.

 

[jetset]

I never did get a response to my enquiries to the "old" management regarding the CD Casino litigation, so they were apparently not keen to have that out in the open.

My interest was also piqued by a brief reference to the litigation that mentioned one Mr. Caselli was involved...this may be pure coincidence, but I wondered whether that was the high profile industry publisher of that name.

It's going to be interesting to see what details become available on the Jackson and Fraser-Harris "Resolutions relating to a Capital Reorganisation and Directors’ authorities to allot shares" proposal...I expect that will involve some more corporate sleight of hand.

 

[$97 All in.]

Seems to me the interests of shareholders & players are in conflict. If there's any money going around MDC shareholders are first in line before PL depositors.

I believe if depositors / players want to find out what's going on they need to buy a nominal amount of shares to gain entry to the meeting.

 

[jetset]

In effect, Media Corp have dropped their peers right in the proverbial by dodging their responsibilities, and "playing the system" in order to negate the regulatory conditions they signed up to with the LGA.

Have to agree with this - just this year we've had three very serious incidents in which online poker companies have not treated players with respect or integrity - Everleaf, Purple Lounge and now the growing crisis over credit card fraud at Merge.

None of this will comfort players, nor should it.

 

[jetset]

It appears that the CD Casino.com Limited company is part of Michael Caselli's Lyceum Publishing Group, according to:

Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)

I've sent a request for clarification and if possible details of the claim against Media Corp-Purple Lounge.

 

[vinylweatherman]

It appears that the CD Casino.com Limited company is part of Michael Caselli's Lyceum Publishing Group, according to:

Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)

I've sent a request for clarification and if possible details of the claim against Media Corp-Purple Lounge.

Seems to have been a dormant company throughout it's entire life. Looks like the very same Michael Caselli who through Lyceum publishes many online and paper periodicals relating to online gaming.

It seems Lyceum was involved in helping start up casino businesses make a success of it, so maybe this is at the root of this litigation. Service supplied to Media Corp to do with entering the online casino business, and which somehow lead to a legal dispute over something like payments or contractural agreements.

It is possible that CD Casino was going to form part of the Media Corp venture, but the dispute rendered it worthless, so it has remained a dormant company ever since. Maybe a breach of an agreement in this respect has caused CD Casino to sue for damages over money and effort spent setting up CD Casino in conjunction with a Media Corp contract, and Media Corp is being sued for breaching the agreement and rendering CD casino and expensive "white elephant" for Mr Caselli.

The only way to get at the truth would be the case going to court, and it being heard in public. Each side is going to tell it's own biased side to the story, that's if they comment at all. Media Corp are obviously worried that this case could bite them in the ass, even though the actions took place under the old management. It seems the new management are not confident that they can sucessfully distance themselves or the company from liability for the actions of previous management.

 

[jetset]

Still no response from Lyceum on this litigation, although in fairness the enquiry was only emailed to them this morning.

 

[whatever]

MDC shares down 75% now from where they were 1 month ago. Media Corp soon to be Media Corpse!

 

[jetset]

Just spoke to Michael Caselli, director of CD Casino.com Limited. He confirms that the litigation against Media Corp is ongoing and for a substantial sum of money, and concerns a business agreement with former subsidiary Gambling.com.

He stressed it has nothing to do with Purple Lounge despite previous assertions that it had contributed to the poker room's downfall.

I've also been told that outraged Media Corp investors are currently building momentum for a class action against the former management - something which unpaid players may consider emulating.

Finally, the silence of the new Media Corp management might be because a forensic accounting exercise is apparently being organised.

 

[jetset]

Bump - don't want to see this gross disrespect for the players vanish just yet!

 

[vinylweatherman]

Bump - don't want to see this gross disrespect for the players vanish just yet!

Media Corp will be given another reminder about this when they launch Intabet

 

[$97 All in.]

Media Corp (MDC) are the biggest riser on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) today, up 50%.

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[$97 All in.]

MDC finished the day up 72% ,#1 on the LSE leader board.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Keep this up and they will break through the one penny ceiling

Good opportunity to get up early tomorrow and short as much as you can get away with

 

[jetset]

MEDIA CORP CONTINUES TO FACE LITIGATION

Talks on CD Casino.com issue fail

The new management at beleaguered online gambling group Media Corp failed to reach a settlement with CD Casino.com Limited Thursday during a meeting in London.

A CD Casino source told InfoPowa that during the meeting with Media Corp chairman Phil Jackson and interim CEO Adam Fraser-Harris it had proved impossible to reach agreement, and that CD Casino.com Limited would therefore be pursuing its case in court.

Details on the legal dispute between the two companies are sparse, but it is understood the case turns on an alleged breach of contract involving onetime Media Corp subsidiary Gambling.com.

Beyond a brusque statement that it was putting its online poker and casino subsidiary Purple Lounge into liquidation, the management at Media Corp remains uncommunicative with the player community, many of whom are anxious about long delayed payments and credit balances locked in the shuttered Internet subsidiary.

Advise on who the liquidators will be is still awaited, whilst rumours continue to circulate that Jackson and Fraser-Harris are contemplating a forensic audit over concerns about the accounts left by the previous management.

Justin Drummond and Sara Vincent abruptly left the group shortly after putting together the Intabet acquisition which saw Jackson and Fraser-Harris assume the leadership of Media Corp. Their present whereabouts are not known.

In its latest stock exchange press release, issued Friday 22 June, Media Corp announces that it has been notified that on 20 June 2012 Jellatech Ltd purchased 21,117,241 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company.

Jellatech is a company entirely owned by Chris O'Neill. Following the purchase Jellatech and Chris O'Neill hold in aggregate 151,617,241 ordinary shares representing 29.77 percent of Media Corp.

The company also advises that, emulating his brother Jason Drummond recently (see previous InfoPowa reports), former chairman Justin Drummond has sold 21,117,241 ordinary shares of 1p each in Media Corp - presumably to O'Neill and Jellatech. Following the disposal Justin Drummond no longer has a disclosable interest in Media Corp.

A search for Jellatech shows a company of that name founded in Aldermaston in Berkshire, UK on May 4 this year with GBP 1 in capital, and an apparently dormant .com website in that name registered through Tucows. The company's business is not described.

 

[trebord]

Jesus, my brain is frazzled after reading all that but at least they are under investigation, still hoping to get what's owed to me...

 

[whatever]

Another purple-like situation:

Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)

This is industry standard now!

 

[jetset]

I don't see the 5050Poker situation the same as Purple Lounge at all.

Purple Lounge involved some very questionable and covert corporate manouevring and inept management that drove a strong brand into the ground and left players seriously disadvantaged and treated in an exceptionally disrespectful and imo dishonest manner.

5050Poker, on the other hand appears to be a straight contractual breach as revealed in today's public statement by Microgaming, and I quote:

"The decision was taken after giving 5050Poker Ltd over a week to redress a material breach of their contract, being the non-payment of monies owed to cure their overdrawn network clearing account."

"Although 5050Poker Limited was given the opportunity to rectify the breach so that the suspension could be lifted, they have failed to respond. As such the Microgaming Poker Network had no choice but to terminate the contract."

The policy changes that are seemingly directed at encouraging more "recreational" players and less "sharks" are not unusual in the industry today - almost every network is instituting measures with a similar goal.

 

[alfonso07]

I don't see the 5050Poker situation the same as Purple Lounge at all.

Purple Lounge involved some very questionable and covert corporate manouevring and inept management that drove a strong brand into the ground and left players seriously disadvantaged and treated in an exceptionally disrespectful and imo dishonest manner.

5050Poker, on the other hand appears to be a straight contractual breach as revealed in today's public statement by Microgaming, and I quote:

"The decision was taken after giving 5050Poker Ltd over a week to redress a material breach of their contract, being the non-payment of monies owed to cure their overdrawn network clearing account."

"Although 5050Poker Limited was given the opportunity to rectify the breach so that the suspension could be lifted, they have failed to respond. As such the Microgaming Poker Network had no choice but to terminate the contract."

The policy changes that are seemingly directed at encouraging more "recreational" players and less "sharks" are not unusual in the industry today - almost every network is instituting measures with a similar goal.

what seems also different between the PL ordeal and the 505poker case, is the LGA's different reaction. i was just informed that the LGA posted on its site a notice to all players having funds with 505poker, unlike to what happened with the PL's case. this leads me to beleive that the LGA was very wrong in believing PL's statements that there were no complaints and no pending players funds. this is called fraud!!!!

 

[jetset]

I share that opinion regarding the Purple Lounge mess, and the new management are doing nothing to encourage players to view Media Corp more positively imv.

Do you have a link to the 5050Poker LGA notice?

 

[alfonso07]

I share that opinion regarding the Purple Lounge mess, and the new management are doing nothing to encourage players to view Media Corp more positively imv.

Do you have a link to the 5050Poker LGA notice?

Link Removed ( Old/Invalid) - its on their landing page

 

[jaar]

excuse me for not reading the whole thread, if this has been mentioned before; is there any info on the liquidator/ has the liquidator been appointed yet?

thanks

 

[jetset]

I haven't seen anything on the appointment of liquidators, but it appears that Media Corp has sufficient resources to start re-buying its old assets

MEDIA CORP REACQUIRES SOLD DOMAINS

Have the potential to be profitable

In an interesting development, Media Corporation - the former owners of the now defunct Purple Lounge, have announced the reacquisition of a number of its sold publishing websites that include onthebox.com and flightcomparison.com which were announced sold at the end of February 2012.

A company statement said the company will resume full ownership of "a number of websites previously sold by the company", as well as receiving a cash settlement of GBP 196 000.

The new management team believe that the reacquired websites have the potential to be profitable and will work towards achieving maximum value from the sites in future.