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News came swiftly Wednesday afternoon across Europe and early in the AM in Canada of Full Tilt Poker’s license being yanked by The Alderney Gambling Control Commission in the wake of a US April 15 indictment on money laundering and bank fraud and the company’s failure to pay US citizens since that time. Now European, Latin American, Canadian and those the world over are wondering if they are essentially screwed.
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 15thApril 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation."
Players were unable to access the Full Tilt Poker online card room for real cash Wednesday including their own European pros. Moneybookers, Europe’s biggest payment processing platform, announced it had severed all ties with Full Tilt immediately following the AGCC announcement. Some have speculated that NETeller, another major online payment processing firm, and potential Visa and Credit Card could also sever ties with FTP.
Full Tilt was rumored to be working on setting up its online poker room in another jurisdiction, one without regulation. But how they would be able to pay out customers remains to be seen.
The fact that they haven’t even attempted to pay US customers leaves little room for hope under these latest circumstances.
In other news, Bwin/PartyGaming’s share price shot up 15 percent today on news of the Full Tilt Poker license suspension as the company was expected to benefit from Full Tilt’s void.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
