Tom Dwan, Phil Galfond Promise $1 Million Payouts to Full Tilt Poker Customers: Hanukkah 2012

Happy Hanukkah to Full Tilt Poker players, even if you happen not to be Jewish.  Hanakkah 2012 is when Team Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Galfond promised to pay back players $1 million out of his own pocket if the company fails to do so itself.  Tom Dwan offered a similar promise of payback, though with a more cryptic date of late 2012, which could mean Christmas since Dwan is Catholic.

What were these two smoking when they made such a guarantee?

After all, one of the biggest search terms coming to the Gambling911.com website a full year prior to FTP’s Full Terminate Payouts mode were variations of “Full Tilt Poker Won’t Pay”, meaning they were having issues long before their run-in with the US Department of Justice and subsequent falling out with their licensing arm. 

Thus far, Full Tilt Poker has yet to pay players residing in the US since its founders were indicted on April 15 for money laundering and bank fraud.  What was once the world’s second largest online poker room has not paid players in the rest of the world since the Alderney Gambling Control Commission yanked its license on June 29. 

Dwan and Galfond might want to start saving up now.  After attorneys for the firm tipped off the Los Angeles Times regarding a group of mysterious European investors looking to purchase Full Tilt Poker on the premise that all players be paid, back pedaling started up last week with news that these “investors” only want to purchase FTP’s United Kingdom and Ireland assets, which begs the question:  “Why approach the LA Times?”

Dwan addressed the payout guarantee on his Twitter account Saturday.

“Lotsa ppl pming me n messaging on twitter w/o having read up on what I said. If worst case happens I’ll pay in a fair way, and that won’t involve paying individuals jus b/c they messaged me a lot. Timeline was late 2012 I think (or anytime I’m >90%ish of ftp not paying out).

“That said let’s hope everything gets resolved n I can keep my $$s to spend on some goofy stuff that I’ll think up later.”

Let’s hope he’s right….but Full Tilt Poker’s track record to date is not the greatest.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com