Breaking news: Alderney suspends Full Tilt’s operating licence

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has suspended Full
Tilt’s licences, requiring the poker room to suspend all operations from
the jurisdiction with immediate effect.
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 15th April
2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees
and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney
legislation.”
More on this as we get it.

Full Tilt’s servers are down following the suspension of its Alderney
licences, according to reports on various forums and social networks.



Real-money play on Full Tilt poker has apparently been suspended, with players postingon the Two Plus Two poker forums they have been “booted off” the site in the middle of
tournaments, however, according to Full Tilt’s site, the downtime is merely the result of “scheduled maintenance.”



Poker pro Bryan Pellegrino, playing on Full Tilt despite signing with Lock Poker last month, tweeted:
“my 1ks just got paused on FTP... result of this? are they ceasing operations?”



Also on Twitter, English pro Keith Hawkins said: “Full Tilt ceases
operations. I guess after Black Friday, today should be called
Predictable Wednesday. I hope everyone gets their
money.”



And Full Tilt Poker team pro Tom Dwan tweeted "Seems like Alderney
regulatory body (where ftp's license is) just shut down ftp. Wow I
think?"



Elsewhere, on an ‘emergency’ broadcast from poker radio station
QuadJacks, one speaker suggested: “This could affect other deals,
particularly the Binion deal,” referring to
the reported talks between Full Tilt and casino
executive Jack Binion.



The Alderney Gambling Control Commission announced in April that
it would review Full Tilt’s licence, and the result of that
investigation was a suspension of licences attached to “Vantage Ltd,
Oxalic Ltd, Filco Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively
trading as Full Tilt Poker.”

Play on Full Tilt has been halted indefinitely, pending the outcome of
a 26 July hearing into the Alderney Gambling Control Commission’s
decision to suspend its licences.



The AGCC today issued suspension notices
to Vantage Ltd, Oxalic Ltd, Filco
Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively trading as Full Tilt Poker, after a
special investigation prompted by the “Black Friday” indictments
unsealed by the US Attorney’s Office on 15
April concluded that “these licensees and their business associates
were operating contrary to Alderney legislation."



Full Tilt players are reporting that real-money play was suddenly halted this morning
following the AGCC's issue of suspension notices requiring Full Tilt
to cease the following activities until the notices are cancelled before
or following a 26 July hearing:



· Register new customers;



· Accept deposits from existing customers;



· Allow existing customers to withdraw funds that are held in their accounts;



· Permit customers to participate in any form of poker game play or gambling transaction.



The hearing into the AGCC’s decision will be held at 10am on Tuesday
26 July at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 1EQ.



Andre Wilsenach, executive director of the Alderney Gambling Control
Commission said: ‘The decision to suspend the eGambling licence was in
the public interest and, because of the seriousness
and urgency of the matter, it required that immediate action be taken
ahead of the regulatory hearing.’



More on this as we get it.

I just went to PaddyPowerPoker.com and saw a news promo called
“Paddys on Tilt” and use a similar Tilt logo. Is this just another one
of Paddy Power awesome adverts or are they trying to tell us
something? On the Promo it states “Poker is Changing” and then July
2011. If it wasn’t for that, I would think this is just another promo.
As we know news hit yesterday that Full Tilt Poker has been sold to European investors.
It is entirely possible that Paddy Power Poker bought Full Tilt Poker and it even makes sense. But Paddy Power
is traded on the stock market, so would they buy a n unlicensed poker
room that is in debt? Maybe for the software (which includes Rush
Poker) and the player base?
Please note – this is 100% speculation at this time. But we will be watching the PaddyPower stock prices. I’m pretty sure this is just another example of the great Paddy Power marketing. I’m going to put on my tin foil hat, just in case.

Unnamed
investors are very interested in purchasing Full Tilt. According to
Canadian-poker.ca spokesman Leon Daniels, the reason is simple: “Anyone
who invests in Full Tilt Poker could also obtain their database of
players. When the U.S starts to regulate online poker, this database,
second only to PokerStars, could see the investor’s stock value
skyrocket.”


Leon elaborated, “There are several big names in online poker that
are in a good position to capture the American market once regulation is
in place. Paying off $150 million in debt to Full Tilt’s players in
exchange for the database could turn out to be a worthwhile investment
for a public company like 888 or PartyGaming, considering the potential
huge increase in stock value that could occur if online poker is
legalized in the States.”