This article is more than 1 year old

Final insult for Full Tilt as Channel Islands kill its licence

Poker site in Ponzi scheme probe

The Channel Islands have revoked the gambling licence of Full Tilt Poker, the online gambling firm US prosecutors have accused of being a global Ponzi scheme.

Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), which initially suspended the licence when the FBI closed the site down in the US, said in a statement today:

It emerged that Full Tilt Poker (FTP) had fundamentally misled AGCC about their operational integrity by continuously reporting as liquid funds blanches that had been covertly seized or restrained by US authorities, or that were otherwise not actually available to the operator.

The commission added that the site had seriously breached its regulations with false reporting, unauthorised provision of credit, and failure to report material events.

However, AGCC also pointed out that revoking the licences from Vantage Limited, Filco Limited and Oxalic Limited, which had been trading as FTP, "does not, as has been suggested, prevent a reactivation of the business under new ownership and management".

Around ten days ago, federal prosecutors lodged court documents in the US that accused the operators of FTP of running a massive Ponzi scheme that robbed players of around $330 million.

They alleged that $443 million was withdrawn from players' accounts and divvied out to board members and owners. The claims were an addition to an existing civil complaint that charged FTP, along with two other online poker sites, of violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which stops illicit gambling outfits from accepting payments. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like