eGaming Review September 2012 | Page 17
M ONT H I N M I NUT ES
MONTH
END
knows you always have to keep your regulators fully informed. Instead, Full Tilt officials continued to tell the Alderney authorities that they had hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, including funds that had been tied up by the US federal government. Worse, insiders, including those who knew the money was running out, supposedly continued to pay themselves hundreds of millions of dollars, for years. Arrogance and greed killed any chance of resolving the mess. According to the federal government, Full Tilt owes players $390m. It should have $503m in cash. It would have, if insiders hadn’t taken out $443m in the last four years. It wasn’t that hard a decision. After all, the players’ deposits were always the players’ money, not the operators’. © 2012, I. Nelson Rose. Prof. Nelson Rose is recognised as one of the world’s leading experts on gambling law, and is a consultant and expert witness for governments, industry and players.
Why Full Tilt lost its licence
> Professor I. Nelson Rose > Lawyer
Greed is dangerous, but combine it with stupidity and arrogance, and it can be lethal. Some of the insiders of Full Tilt Poker appear to have taken one of the most pro?table businesses ever created and needlessly run it into the ground. Along the way, they got themselves indicted and sued in gigantic civil lawsuits. And they deprived hundreds of thousands of online poker players of hundreds of millions of dollars. All of it was unnecessary. Full Tilt’s main licence was issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. According to Andre Wilsenach, executive director, the company’s problems started four years ago when the US federal Department of Justice began covertly freezing funds. Full Tilt found that it could not access millions of dollars deposited by American players. The obvious solution was to tell those players, “Sorry”, and stop accepting deposits from the US. If it wanted to make those players whole, for public relations and other reasons, it certainly had the funds to send to those American players the amounts they had deposited that had been seized. It decided, however, that this would scare off other players around the world, so someone allegedly came up with the idea of using funds from other players, principally those in Europe, to pay off Americans who won or wanted their deposits back. This might have worked; if they had only told their regulators ?rst. Full Tilt was under a legal duty to keep the Commission informed of signi?cant events. Its failure to disclose these seizures was the main ground for its regulators revoking its licence. If Full Tilt had said to Wilsenach: “The US is freezing some of our American players’ deposits,” the Commission would have worked with them. They might even have approved the idea of using European players’ funds, since Full Tilt had more than enough cash to make all players’ whole repayments. Anyone who has been on the operating side of the tables, even virtual ones,
SOCIAL GAMBLING
Eight months after eGR revealed Facebook was in talks with egaming operators to launch real-money gambling ? H ]??H[? HR?] \??\?Y ?]?[Y\?\? ?][???[?????Y[? ?H[? ?? ??
?]Y?\? ????X[??X[??\?X???[Y\? \??\??\ ??X[? ?\??\??Y[??[?X\?H ? LH ?]^ ?[?? ?X[ [[?^H?[Z[??[?\?X?\?[?? ?[][??\ ? ?]?\?]??[? H? ? [?]Y\?]??[??\??X?X?????H??[X?\? ? LKQ? ?]?X[Y \?[?[?^? \?]?H ??H ] ?\? ??H ??Y???X? ?]?[Y\?\? H?\???\?]? ? \??\? ?] H ]??H ?][???[?????Y[? ?H
?YH X? \?HX??JH[?]Y?\? \? YX\?????[Y[?????[?B?XY??[Y\? \??\??\ ?SQPB?????[?H??[?Y??\? ?YZ??Y?\??X[?[?\??\??Y ?] ?\ ?[?? H???? H8?' ???X[?[Z[??X???\?[x?'H[?]\??KXY[?? \?X?X???? \??\??\ ? ?]YYXK??[Y\??H[?[?[H \??\??[???[??H[??[?[ ^[??\??YZ[?? \??\? ?[][??????\[?Y\??Z[[???] ? ]??K????[Z]H?\ B?XY ?]?[?\? ?[][?????[Y\?[? ^[Y[? ]?X?X???? ?[??H ? Y?\? ?]?[?^YX\?? ?]ZX????\? ?[?[? ???[HX[?Y?\? ?H ?\? ??[?Y ?H?]? ??][????[Y\?[? ^[Y[? ?[?X^H ? LK?\?^ \?Y[??H[?? Y\? ?]?[?? ?? X? ? ?]Y?H[?\?Y? ? ?]Y?X? \??\??\ ?[?XY[??[??Z[[????[[?????H X[\???X] ?[???B? ?? X?X[?Y?\????[Y\? ?\ ??X?X????]?[?? ?\??Y?]?H YX\??\?H?X?X????[\?YYK?[???H\?? H?Y[?[?\??\??[? ??][??? L?[? ?Y?\??Z[?? ??[?Y???H\?X????\?[?\??]?[?Y[?????\? YX\?? ?[? ?\? ??H]?X?X????H ?\?H ?[[Y\?\????X]H]???[ [????\[?HX??[??^H[? ?
???????Y?XY?^?[?K???B??MB??