Alderney, part of the Channel Islands is the jurisdiction of Full Tilt Poker. Following the Black Friday, officials of the AGCC wished not to comment on the future of the operating licences of Channel Islands-based gambling site Full Tilt Poker, however, it seemed they can continue conducting business as usual.
In the previous hours, however, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission released a press release, in which they suspend the operating license of Full Tilt Poker with immediate effect:
"Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has today issued Hearing Notices under Regulation 46 of its Regulations to Vantage Ltd, Oxalic Ltd, Filco Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively trading as FULL TILT POKER.
In addition, AGCC has issued Suspension Notices under Regulation 47 to the above named companies requiring them to suspend all operations with immediate effect.
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. The nature of the findings necessitated the taking of immediate action in the public interest."
Fulltiltpoker.com is currently unavailable, ongoing games seem to have stopped, servers are down. No official comment has been made by Full Tilt Poker so far, who say that the downtime is a result of "scheduled maintenance".
According to recent information, Full Tilt Poker remains to be offline until July 26, the date of the AGCC hearing in London, as stated in the press release issued by André Wilsenach (Executive Director) on behalf of the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. He also said that "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."
UPDATE at 4:38 p.m. CET:
Moneybookers has announced that they stop business with Full Tilt Poker altogether. Recently the company sent out an email to its registered users, informing them about the situation:
"As a Moneybookers customer, you already know you are the most important part of our business. We always make sure you receive the safest service.
For this reason we have stopped accepting deposits made to Full Tilt Poker.
There are extraordinary circumstances behind this situation which are beyond our control. We will not comment on these, just take appropriate action that protects our customers.
We have requested that the Moneybookers logo be removed from Full Tilt Poker, but cannot do any more to make sure it is not displayed. Moneybookers is no longer available from Full Tilt Poker, and you will receive an error message if you attempt to use our service there.
We want you to continue to enjoy your gaming with Moneybookers, and recommend you have a look at our gaming promotion page."
UPDATE at 4:41 p.m. CET:
After the statement by AGCC was released, the Bwin/PartyPoker shares went up by almost 15%.
UPDATE at 4:38 p.m. CET:
Moneybookers has announced that they stop business with Full Tilt Poker altogether. Recently the company sent out an email to its registered users, informing them about the situation:
"As a Moneybookers customer, you already know you are the most important part of our business. We always make sure you receive the safest service.
For this reason we have stopped accepting deposits made to Full Tilt Poker.
There are extraordinary circumstances behind this situation which are beyond our control. We will not comment on these, just take appropriate action that protects our customers.
We have requested that the Moneybookers logo be removed from Full Tilt Poker, but cannot do any more to make sure it is not displayed. Moneybookers is no longer available from Full Tilt Poker, and you will receive an error message if you attempt to use our service there.
We want you to continue to enjoy your gaming with Moneybookers, and recommend you have a look at our gaming promotion page."
UPDATE at 4:41 p.m. CET:
After the statement by AGCC was released, the Bwin/PartyPoker shares went up by almost 15%.
Kevin Mathers (Kevmath):
"Looks like shit just got real for Full Tilt Poker with Alderney's Gaming Commission suspending their license"
Tom Dwan:
"Seems like alderney regulatory body (where ftp's license is) just shut down ftp. Wow I think?"
Bryan Pellegrino:
“my 1ks just got paused on FTP... result of this? are they ceasing operations?”
Keith Hawkins:
“Full Tilt ceases operations. I guess after Black Friday, today should be called Predictable Wednesday. I hope everyone gets their money.”
Tom Dwan
"Some pretty objective ppl who's opinions I respect are worried now that FT can't payout or find a buyer. Me too more I think about it"
We will be updating this article as furher news is available.
