Serious problems at Purple Lounge

[vinylweatherman]

The idea of chip dumping to another skin has, of course, crossed a lot of players' minds. But given that we can't even log in, that's no longer an option.

Hanicapping the odds of getting paid seems like an exercise in futility with such limited information. The lies and general shadiness make it seem like < 50% though.

Strange, a technical issue with the download client which DIRECTLY connects to the MGS gaming server has spread to the poker skin, which connects to a different server and on a different network.

The company execs have not thought this through in giving out such an obvious lie to explain this problem.

It's pretty clear, PL have gone under, and unless this merger goes ahead and gives them a lifeline of cash, they will STAY bust, and players are at serious risk of not seeing their tied up funds.

Yet another blow, and "asleep at the wheel" incident for Microgaming and the licensing authority.

If the shares were not suspended, they would collapse to fractions of a penny within minutes. It is pretty convenient that they were able to claim the shares had to be suspended because of merger talks, as without this excuse, they could only have had them suspended by admitting they were effectively bust, and needed a rescue "white knight" to come along.

Investors are likely to be pissed off that they were stuck with worthless shares because they were mislead in the run up to the suspension into believing this merger was an EXPANSION of a thriving business.

 

[Przecinek]

Is there any point in filling out PABs, now that the site is gone?

 

[questa]

Staff are still there, had an email from them 20 minutes ago.

Pretty weird that the staff are sticking around in a bankrupt company - how do they expect to be paid?

I wouldn't be surprised if they are still trying to sort out a merger or something.

Things look pretty grim though, that's for sure.

 

[maphesto]

The affiliate registration still works.

xxhttp://affiliates.purple-lounge.com/registration.asp

 

[maxd]

Is there any point in filling out PABs, now that the site is gone?

Depends on how you look at it. If you want immediate results from a PAB against PL then no, probably not because there is currently no dialogue happening so the PAB issues are more or less dead in the water for the time being.

If you take the longer approach and foresee that there is a chance PL will want to return to Casinomeister after they get their business straightened out then maybe yes. Generally speaking PAB issues on file will have to be dealt with as one of the prerequisites of being re-listed here at CM. So in that case if we have yours in the stack then it will get put forward right at the start. Historically such cases have a fairly high resolution rate.

Your call really.

 

[specialK]

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Andrew Presley,a Media Corporation shareholder working with the help of Sharesoc, Hari Lotay and others,has emailed me to say that he personally called an EGM on Friday the 13th of April. He did not state what his resolutions or proposals were however.
I have emailed the company to check the validity of this claim but they have not responded.
By law, if an EGM has been properly called the company has 21 days to inform all members (shareholders). We will all therefore know no later than Friday 4th May if an EGM was indeed called for on the 13th and what Mr Presley and his supporters are proposing.

EGM means Extraordinary General Meeting, right?

 

[vinylweatherman]

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EGM means Extraordinary General Meeting, right?

Yes, and this sounds like some shareholders are worried that something is seriously wrong, and they are being kept in the dark. Sometimes these meetings are called to get rid of board members who are deemed to no longer be working in the interests of shareholders, or to force the disclosure of information.

If staff are paid monthly, which is the norm, they may well have been paid last month, and been given no reason to believe they won't get paid next week, so they will work as normal. If they get paid next week, it buys the company a further month of normal working, unless the staff begin to feel they are not going to get paid. This may happen with CS, who are dealing with players and seeing very clear signs that there is no money being paid out to anyone by the company. Suppliers also will begin to notice that payments have not arrived, and all they get are excuses.

Maybe Entraction have shut down the poker skin because they know that by now players more or less believe PL has gone under, and will be looking to move their money to other Entraction skins. MGS may have shut down the casino, yet unlike before when this has happened, MGS have NOT issued a press release explaining it.

Since MGS have continued to show a complete disregard to the safety of players' money, and yet again the licensing authority has not enforced that player funds are separate from company assets so that they can be paid even if the company itself has run out of cash, both should receive a considerable roasting once this is over.

 

[$97 All in.]

Yes, and this sounds like some shareholders are worried that something is seriously wrong, and they are being kept in the dark.

From a reading of that advfn thread

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it looks like shareholders have known something is very wrong & been wise to the Media Corp shenanigans for years. There are some scathing comments about the management & the Drummond brothers in particular going back years. Looks like they lost about $18 million on buying & selling the gambling.com site name!!!!!!!!!

Can anyone attend that EGM or do you need to be a shareholder? Maybe some of the poker players owed money could accompany some of the shareholders.

 

[vinylweatherman]

From a reading of that advfn thread

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it looks like shareholders have known something is very wrong & been wise to the Media Corp shenanigans for years. There are some scathing comments about the management & the Drummond brothers in particular going back years. Looks like they lost about $18 million on buying & selling the gambling.com site name!!!!!!!!!

Can anyone attend that EGM or do you need to be a shareholder? Maybe some of the poker players owed money could accompany some of the shareholders.

You would need to be a shareholder, and since the shares are suspended, you can't buy any just to get in (a common journalist trick). If controversial, Media Corp will ban the press from attending.

 

[questa]

latest:

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Wonder how long this will drag out for.

 

[maxd]

FYI:

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Media Corporation Plc

("Media Corp" or the "Company")

Purple Lounge Trading Update

Further to the trading update of 11 April the Company provides the following trading update ahead of the publication of the interim financial results for the six months ended 31 March 2012.

In preparing the interim results it has become clear that the Purple Lounge is trading materially behind the same period of the previous financial year which will result in increased losses for the division and, as a result, the Company as a whole. The directors believe that Purple Lounge has suffered as a result of negative trade press (much of which the directors consider totally unfounded) particularly surrounding the litigation brought against one of the Company’s subsidiaries by CD Casino.com Limited.

As a result of the recent losses, and resulting impact on the Company’s cash position having continually funded the losses, the directors are in the process of considering a number of options for Purple Lounge as a means to control the losses and, in doing so, preserve the Company’s cash and value in its other divisions. Media Corp has not received dividends or cash payments from Purple Lounge during its ownership and has loaned over £900k in the last few months. The options under consideration may be directly impacted by the outcome of the Company’s stated intention of undertaking an acquisition or acquisitions. In the meantime the Company has temporarily suspended the site www.purplelounge.com.

As at 31 March the Company had cash balances of £400k with an additional £250k received on 4th April 2012 from the disposal of loss making publishing assets.

The directors hope to publish the full interim results by 31st May 2012.

Further announcements will be made as and when appropriate.

--ENDS--

 

[Mousey]

The directors believe that Purple Lounge has suffered as a result of negative trade press (much of which the directors consider totally unfounded) particularly surrounding the litigation brought against one of the Company’s subsidiaries by CD Casino.com Limited.

Anyone able to fill me in on that bit?

 

[jetset]

I see this as confirmation that a very serious situation exists from which Purple Lounge may not emerge, and imo the manner in which managment has handled the crisis is extremely questionable.

Despite "suspending" the site there has been no communication with players, and they continued to take deposits when they must have known for some time that they were in financial deep water.

I am also disappointed in Microgaming and Entraction, who know about this mess yet have done nothing (as far as I can see) to address the matter or help to clarify what is going on.

If memory serves, I think PL is licensed in Gibraltar.

Here's the limited information on the litigation, which appeared in Casinomeister News in February this year:

MEDIA CORP TO DEFEND LEGAL CLAIM

Dormant subsidiary and a 2007 agreement named in claim

Media Corporation Plc, recently in the news with the announcement of a joint venture partnership agreement with Hippodrome Casino (see previous report), has advised of a claim in excess of £ 300 000 laid against it and a dormant subsidiary of the Company, Search Focus Limited.

While little information has been released on the nature of the claim the action has been brought against the company by CD Casino.com, a dormant company with a single director Mr M. Caselli and reportedly pertains to an agreement dating back to February 2007.

Media Corporation has made clear its intention to defend the claim "vigorously" following in-depth consultation with its legal advisors.

I wonder whether this is the same Caselli who owns various publishing companies in the industry?

 

[vinylweatherman]

Directors worried about negative trade press bringing the brand down, yet had no worries that PLAYERS posting across the internet that PL had been unable to pay out withdrawals would impact the brand.

It is clear that they set out to lie to players, as when the site was suspended, which they now admit is what happened, they continually lied to players that the problem was a technical issue that was being worked on.

For about 2 months prior to this, PL was effectively trading whilst insolvent, and did NOT ringfence players' funds, hence they are unavailable for making good on the withdrawals (which again they lied about, inventing a mythical queue and surge in requests, which overworked staff were battling to get through).

It seems the crisis blew up because Media Corp decided to stop propping up PL, and so it was starved of liquidity. From this point, players' funds were placed in jeapordy, since they had to be drawn upon to keep things ticking over. Both Microgaming and the GRA didn't have a clue, and so failed players, just like the Maltese regulator failed players at Stryyke.

It is not just PL's brand that has been damaged, this is yet another blow to Microgaming, offshore licensing authorities, and online poker.

There seems even a case for a criminal investigation if PL is unable to return players' funds at the end of this, since these are supposed to be kept separate from the rest of the assets.

If Media Corp do hang PL players out to dry, they can forget about restoring faith in any other online gambling brand they bring out in the future.

It seems we have our first serious nominee for the 2012 "fall from grace" awards, and so I formally nominate Purple Lounge for this, even though it is only April.

For casino players, welcome to Casino Rewards

 

[jetset]

Seconded!

These people have treated the player community with contempt imo.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

How can both MG and the licensing authority allow a major casino brand to get into such a state, and how the hell can PL have carried on taking deposits for so long when they knew they were basically shafted?

One does sometimes wonder if MG have spread themselves too thinly over the years, I remember a time when playing at an MG casino was basically the only 'seal of trust' that you needed.

 

[vinylweatherman]

How can both MG and the licensing authority allow a major casino brand to get into such a state, and how the hell can PL have carried on taking deposits for so long when they knew they were basically shafted?

One does sometimes wonder if MG have spread themselves too thinly over the years, I remember a time when playing at an MG casino was basically the only 'seal of trust' that you needed.

Business as usual It seems NOTHING has been learned from TUSK, and then Stryyke. Not to mention the problems with Villento group, Grand Monaco (Playshare), and MiniVegas. All three pretty much went bust after a period where players were complaining about increasingly severe delays in withdrawals, ignored queries, etc. At least all were bailed out by Casino Rewards, and players saw their money returned as part of the deal.

PL seemed to be following an identical path, which is why my impression of these "technical issues" and "long queues for processing" was that it was nothing more than a cover up for a lack of funds, and that when the truth was prized out of them, as it was today, it would be that they had run out of money, and were frantically trying to figure a way out.

The really big scandal is that yet again we find that players' funds were not kept separate from other company assets, so there is not even enough money to close out the players, who will have to rely on a "rescue deal" in order to see this money, let alone finance continued operation of the PL products.

This will have shaken trust in the whole industry, as players can see clearly that they are just as unprotected as they were when TUSK went bust.

Microgaming as a brand can no longer be associated with an extra degree of safety of players' funds, and the whole idea that MGS steps in when an operator goes under has been shown to have been one of those "urban myths" that players have wrongly believed since the late 1990's.

 

[maxd]

It seems we have our first serious nominee for the 2012 "fall from grace" awards, and so I formally nominate Purple Lounge for this ....

+1.

Maybe even a "Crash And Burn" subcategory given the severity of "the fall".

 

[jetset]

While most of what VWM has to say above resonates with me, I have to say that AFAIK there is as yet no evidence to suggest that PL has not segregated player funds. By all means let's beat on this outfit for its many obvious failings detailed in this thread, but it's important to be accurate.

Regrettably, this is not a new pattern of events when a casino gets into trouble, as VWM notes...and it is not confined to any one software provider or licensing jurisdiction.

In past issues such involved entities too often seem to have been ignorant of events; looked the other way; or just sat on the fence to see how things developed before taking action or even commenting.

Just once I would like to see the various bodies involved in these disasters - because like it or not software providers, support centres and regulators are involved - step up, accept at least some part of the responsibility to ameliorate the consequences, safeguard the punter and take appropriate action.

That includes having the guts to interact directly with the player community to ensure there is clarity from their side, even when the operator chooses to retreat into silence, as is usually the case.

IMO the facts here all point to a situation in which Purple Lounge appears to have deliberately deceived the players regarding its viability and the reasons for its unsatisfactory service and accounting procedures. And by remaining aloof to player complaints and trotting out questionable explanations which seem designed more to assuage the fears of investors than address player problems, that apparent deception is continuing.

As usual, the player is left in the dark holding the can.... it's truly disgusting.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

If I were a licensing authority I'd be here at CM, I'd have a member of my staff keeping a daily eye on the CM forums, because chances are that if a casino is getting into trouble, it'll get flagged up by the community here.

This implosion of PL could have been seen coming a mile off from reading this thread alone, and the licensing authority IMO could and should have been far more on the ball.

It beggars belief that neither the licensing authority or MG appear to have had either the knowledge or the inclination to step in before PL went pop with a stack of their customers' cash stashed away in swag bags.

 

[GrandMaster]

It looks like I was right to be cynical in https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/serious-problems-at-purple-lounge.49194/ about PL's claim that a stock market listing was a financial guarantee for players.

 

[vinylweatherman]

While most of what VWM has to say above resonates with me, I have to say that AFAIK there is as yet no evidence to suggest that PL has not segregated player funds. By all means let's beat on this outfit for its many obvious failings detailed in this thread, but it's important to be accurate.

Regrettably, this is not a new pattern of events when a casino gets into trouble, as VWM notes...and it is not confined to any one software provider or licensing jurisdiction.

In past issues such involved entities too often seem to have been ignorant of events; looked the other way; or just sat on the fence to see how things developed before taking action or even commenting.

Just once I would like to see the various bodies involved in these disasters - because like it or not software providers, support centres and regulators are involved - step up, accept at least some part of the responsibility to ameliorate the consequences, safeguard the punter and take appropriate action.

That includes having the guts to interact directly with the player community to ensure there is clarity from their side, even when the operator chooses to retreat into silence, as is usually the case.

IMO the facts here all point to a situation in which Purple Lounge appears to have deliberately deceived the players regarding its viability and the reasons for its unsatisfactory service and accounting procedures. And by remaining aloof to player complaints and trotting out questionable explanations which seem designed more to assuage the fears of investors than address player problems, that apparent deception is continuing.

As usual, the player is left in the dark holding the can.... it's truly disgusting.

I think there is. For 2 months, the cashier's department has been suffering from a severe bout of constipation, and it was taking an astonishing length of time to process withdrawals, even though no online casino could have such a sudden upsurge in requests that would have a 2 month queue appear almost overnight.

Now, they have formally closed the operation down, and have given no timescale for it's return, and have even suggested it may not return at all after a review. Given this, and if they had the funds ringfenced, they should be announcing a scheme to send players their remaining balances ASAP to bring closure to this affair.

If players make formal requests to be "closed out" from PL and have their balances returned, there should be no reason for PL to delay, unless of course they don't have the money segregated, and have run out of liquidity in the business.

To make it 100% clear, players would have to request account closure, rather than just a withdrawal of the funds whilst leaving the account open. This would require PL to send the balance without delay under the terms of operation.

If they cannot, it would be strong evidence to suggest that players' funds have been spent on the general running of the business, in effect used as a free loan by the company in the expectation it would not all be called in at once. It is perhaps the mass exodus of poker players after the switch to Entraction that upset the applecart, as it meant a sharp rise in calls on the pool of player funds. If ringfenced, this should not have had a major impact, but if it was being used within the company as a "free loan" pool, it's sudden reduction could have sucked the liquidity from the operation, leading to the chaos of the past 2 months.

 

[jetset]

I can appreciate the logic behind your reasoning, but imv it still falls short of certainty.

I've flagged this thread to the regulator, but it may carry more weight if account holders complained (I am not one)

The arrogance with which this casino is treating its players, and the lack of integrity that is being displayed deserves exposure IMO.

 

[maxd]

... the licensing authority IMO could and should have been far more on the ball.

Look at who we're talking about here. "On the ball" and proactive about it is not a charge that is often made when speaking about that particular jurisdiction. Not by half.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I can appreciate the logic behind your reasoning, but imv it still falls short of certainty.

I've flagged this thread to the regulator, but it may carry more weight if account holders complained (I am not one)

The arrogance with which this casino is treating its players, and the lack of integrity that is being displayed deserves exposure IMO.

The truth will come out soon enough, they are a listed company trying for a merger. The annual report should reveal all.

 

[pokeraddict]

It looks like I was right to be cynical in https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/serious-problems-at-purple-lounge.49194/ about PL's claim that a stock market listing was a financial guarantee for players.

Betcorp and Betonsports were also publicly traded, and both failed. Betcorp was also an MG.

There have been many Microgaming failures over the past few years where players got nothing.

• Betcorp/Betholdem
• 24Poker
• Tusk
• Eurolinx
• Betonbet
• Purple Lounge (although they may pay, but they closed w/o notice like the others)

Poker players seem to have been especially affected by the lack of oversight from Microgaming of their licensees. I have the opinion that all MG sites should be avoided if only because players are supporting a company that has shown over and over again they don't care if their licensees run off with player's money. At the very least the lack of oversight creates situations where well known and trusted sites can go quietly go bust because nobody is watching them. The software company is responsible for the companies they license, for them to think otherwise is unethical.

In past posts, Casinomeister seems to feel the same way.

I have always felt strongly that software providers inherit a certain level of responsibility when they put casino operators in business. I have always felt that the buck stops at the software provider when there is a problem.

https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/futurebet-casino-software-bad-operators/

If this is yet another failure at Purple Lounge, and players do not get paid, will players continue to accept that MG does not care as long as they get their royalties?

 

[vinylweatherman]

Betcorp and Betonsports were also publicly traded, and both failed. Betcorp was also an MG.

There have been many Microgaming failures over the past few years where players got nothing.

• Betcorp/Betholdem
• 24Poker
• Tusk
• Eurolinx
• Betonbet
• Purple Lounge (although they may pay, but they closed w/o notice like the others)

Poker players seem to have been especially affected by the lack of oversight from Microgaming of their licensees. I have the opinion that all MG sites should be avoided if only because players are supporting a company that has shown over and over again they don't care if their licensees run off with player's money. At the very least the lack of oversight creates situations where well known and trusted sites can go quietly go bust because nobody is watching them. The software company is responsible for the companies they license, for them to think otherwise is unethical.

In past posts, Casinomeister seems to feel the same way.



https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/futurebet-casino-software-bad-operators/

If this is yet another failure at Purple Lounge, and players do not get paid, will players continue to accept that MG does not care as long as they get their royalties?

Many have already accepted that MGS is nothing special in this respect, and that players have to act on their own instincts when things seem to be going wrong, and not think (this is Microgaming, so nothing bad will come of these current issues).

The "technical issues" excuse has been so misused that it's utterance alone is enough to convince many that something bad is going on, and that a cover up is under way.

Something ALL these failures have in common, as well as failures of US facing eWallets, is that they were preceeded by increasingly severe "technical issues", which despite being worked on (allegedly) by the cream of technical experts, just couldn't be fixed.

One also has to realise that site/server failure is "mission critical" for any online business, so a technical issue with a premium product that cuts revenue to zero SHOULD be having everything at their disposal thrown at it. A relaxed "be patient, we are looking into it" attitude for a number of days suggests the whole thing is a cover up for an INTENTIONAL shut down of the affected service.

Not so long ago, Bigcasino suffered "technical issues" that were being worked on over a weekend, and early the following week the software supplier broke the news that the real cause of the problem was that they had flipped the off switch and gone home for the weekend, but kept this secret from players, front line staff, and even industry reps. This is EXACTLY what PL have done, with all the issues stemming from the fact that management switched off the servers and told staff to cover it up by saying it was a technical issue, or ignoring all requests for information. They were forced to admit the "bleedin' obvious" on the 27th, as the UK stock market is less tolerant of lying company directors than customers, and there is a risk of jail for the company directors if they mislead the market or investors.

 

[jetset]

O/T for a moment seeing as Big Casino has been mentioned - did you know that Playtech is reportedly taking a 20 percent slice of Viaden?

Back to our usual programming....

 

[rainmaker]

O/T for a moment seeing as Big Casino has been mentioned - did you know that Playtech is reportedly taking a 20 percent slice of Viaden?

Back to our usual programming....

Yes, I read that the other day. And I must say, I find it absolutely ridiculous that Playtech once again is buying from Teddy Sagi!

Sorry for derail

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Yes, I read that the other day. And I must say, I find it absolutely ridiculous that Playtech once again is buying from Teddy Sagi!

Sorry for derail

Forgive me for being dense but this doesn't mean anything to me, is there any history I should be aware of here?

 

[rainmaker]

Forgive me for being dense but this doesn't mean anything to me, is there any history I should be aware of here?

As The Telegraph wrote the other day:

But it’s obvious who Playtech’s being run for. Sagi has taken out more than £500m since 2006’s Aim float – a favourite technique being to sell businesses he owns back to Playtech

But I should not derail this thread with Playtech stuff

If you want to know more, just Google Teddy Sagi. You may also want to read this recent article (Playtech`s trust issues) at calvinayre.com:

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[specialK]

Betcorp and Betonsports were also publicly traded, and both failed. Betcorp was also an MG.

There have been many Microgaming failures over the past few years where players got nothing.

• Betcorp/Betholdem
• 24Poker
• Tusk
• Eurolinx
• Betonbet
• Purple Lounge (although they may pay, but they closed w/o notice like the others)

Was ever "happy end" in similar situation?

 

[pokeraddict]

Was ever "happy end" in similar situation?

The five rooms above Purple Lounge on that list all stiffed players. Betcorp/Betholdem players got a semi bailout from Bodog where Betcorp players had a WR before they could withdraw. This was back in 2007 so I cannot remember the exact details there.

 

[specialK]

The five rooms above Purple Lounge on that list all stiffed players.

I know that. But was any other room who was in big trouble, and finally recovered?

And BTW PL is licensed in Malta, not Gibraltar.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I know that. But was any other room who was in big trouble, and finally recovered?

And BTW PL is licensed in Malta, not Gibraltar.

That doesn't come as much of a surprise. Malta were the ones asleep at the wheel when Stryyke went bust and took players' funds with them. Malta then launched a criminal investigation in to what went on because players lost their money, which should never have happened.
The investigation seems to have dragged on, but clearly no lessons have been learned and PL were able to run out of money right under the LGA's noses.

If players' funds are safe after all, why can't PL and Media Corp give them back now, rather than have to wait for this merger deal to go through. PL have decided to cease operations, so at this point players' funds become due immediately.

 

[specialK]

I don't know what that it means but I couldn't find PL on any LGA lists, and finnaly I found it on "Terminated Licenses"
Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)

 

[vinylweatherman]

I don't know what that it means but I couldn't find PL on any LGA lists, and finnaly I found it on "Terminated Licenses"
Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)

So, on Friday PL announced formally that they had suspended operations, and between that announcement and 16:00 hours (when the LGA offices close for business), the LGA managed to update their website to reflect this development by moving PL to the "terminated licenses" list.

This sounds like BS, and I rather suspect it was the LGA terminating the PL license that caused the casino and poker servers to be switched off, and PL themselves had no say in the matter. This would mean they have lied in the trading update by suggesting that PL were the ones to make the decision to cease operating.

Unfortunately, the LGA have not given any further information, such as the date the license was terminated, and why.

 

[Jufo]

I see this thread as having status resolved. Does disappearing with players money mean that it resolves the issue

 

[Tirilej]

I see this thread as having status resolved. Does disappearing with players money mean that it resolves the issue

The OP's issue is resolved.
A tips would be to read the whole thread and not just a part of it

 

[jetset]

More info for unpaid players:

Sara Vincent, CEO, Media Corporation plc
T: +44 (0)20 7618 9000
E: [email protected]

 

[The Don]

Emailed her on Thursday... no response so far. Do you have her home address as well? Maybe I can take her dog hostage or something

 

[questa]

More info for unpaid players:

Sara Vincent, CEO, Media Corporation plc
T: +44 (0)20 7618 9000
E: [email protected]

She doesn't take any calls or reply to any emails.

 

[rainmaker]

.

Or you can go and collect your funds here

 

[Leoooh]

.

Or you can go and collect your funds here

View attachment 32631

I could not cover the travel expenses from that money that they would(or wouldn't) gave me.
I also tried the email and phone nr.... without much luck.

 

[whatever]

She doesn't take any calls or reply to any emails.

I can confirm that!

I sent an e-mail on Wednesday to [email protected] and received no reply. I also phoned that number Friday and a secretary answered telling me that they are the parent company of Purple Lounge and that she can take my details and somebody directly involved with the gaming site will contact me. So far, no answer from this as well.

 

[$97 All in.]

More info for unpaid players:

Sara Vincent, CEO, Media Corporation plc
T: +44 (0)20 7618 9000
E: [email protected]

From reading the threads on Media Corp over on ADVFN I think this lady is the patsy, she's only been appointed a few week - See page 10 Old / Expired Link

Justin & Jason Drummond (brothers) seem to be the real criminals here. For years the shareholders have regarded them as little better than thieves in Saville Row suits.

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[jetset]

From reading the threads on Media Corp over on ADVFN I think this lady is the patsy, she's only been appointed a few week - See page 10 Old / Expired Link

Justin & Jason Drummond (brothers) seem to be the real criminals here. For years the shareholders have regarded them as little better than thieves in Saville Row suits.

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I think you're probably right that she has been placed in an unenviable position by the company's management, but the fact remains that prior to her appointment as interim CEO she was running Purple Lounge and is therefore surely well aware of what's going on.

It is incredible that a company official in her position is simply ignoring attempts to establish a dialogue, and that should be another red flag on this outfit.

The emails and phone calls she has been getting are all useful pressure imo.

I was interested to read on the link you posted that another director (Petter) also resigned recently, citing an inability to get information out of Drummond on the company. He lasted just seven months and was clearly disgusted at a situation in which one director is unable to extract information on the company's affairs from another director.

Media Corp is sounding more and more like a cowboy outfit imv.

 

[vinylweatherman]

For UK players, pressure could be applied by contacting the financial "agony aunts" of many newspapers. They intervene when customers get taken for a ride by "big business" as well as the cowboys. If they take on such a case, they will write it up in their column, and this could well expose this scandal to a far wider audience. Online gambling is sufficiently mainstream that even those who do not dabble will have seen the TV and newspaper ads, as well as seen the sponsorship of sport.

It could put pressure on the industry as a whole, because of the wider issue that there is nothing protecting players' funds when such operations go bust, and that far from being a "one off", there has been a string of failures over recent years with players, especially poker, losing some VERY large sums of money.

There are also a few high profile consumer forums, and this matter may well ALREADY be getting some exposure. Some of these sites are tied into the newspapers, even TV, and is another way this could get into the mainstream media.

It just needs enough individuals to raise the matter to make it clear that this is a big problem, rather than an isolated failing for a small number of customers.

The media will get stonewalled as well, but they will write about it.

 

[jetset]

Every bit of exposure helps when dealing with arrogant managements who think they can ignore public opinion, as this one appears to be.

The Purple Lounge story was getting wider coverage in industry media over the weekend and today, I'm happy to report.

I would still like to know what the CD Casino.com dispute is about...and whether the CD director "M.Caselli" is the well known publisher in the internet gambling industry.

BTW - this is O/T but worth a smile:

"Malta’s Lotteries and Gaming Authority has made a list of some of Europe’s fastest-growing organisations. The Times of Malta report the regulator was named to New Europe Magazine’s Fast 50 list of firms. It’s the only regulator on a list that recognizes “innovation, governance, diligence and international growth”.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I think you're probably right that she has been placed in an unenviable position by the company's management, but the fact remains that prior to her appointment as interim CEO she was running Purple Lounge and is therefore surely well aware of what's going on.

It is incredible that a company official in her position is simply ignoring attempts to establish a dialogue, and that should be another red flag on this outfit.

The emails and phone calls she has been getting are all useful pressure imo.

I was interested to read on the link you posted that another director (Petter) also resigned recently, citing an inability to get information out of Drummond on the company. He lasted just seven months and was clearly disgusted at a situation in which one director is unable to extract information on the company's affairs from another director.

Media Corp is sounding more and more like a cowboy outfit imv.

This reminds me of a documentary about the "glass ceiling" that still seems to block women from the boardroom. The point made was that when women did manage to get promoted to the top, it was a sign that the company was in trouble, and needed a "scapegoat" to take the flak, and then fall on their proverbial sword. It can be an indication of who does NOT want that top job "right now" and risk damaging their future prospects, rather than a true case of an unbiased appointment based on merit.



UPDATE

Some time today, the Purple Lounge site itself has been replaced with a simple notice that all service has been suspended, and that individual players will be contacted within the next 7 days. They have also removed all means for players to contact them in the mean time, so presumably they have closed the contact centre.

Hopefully, the pressure now mounting in the trade press has made them find a way to close out players soon, rather than have this hanging over them till the merger. It is being said that if players lose money over this, the credibility of the entire business will be dealt a blow, possibly a fatal one.

They have £400,000 cash, plus the £250,000 from the recent sale of two subsidiaries. It appears that apart from this, everything else is tied up in assets. It hardly seems enough to refund casino and poker players.