With new ownership waiting in the wings, it appears as though Full Tilt Poker may be gearing up to re-apply for their license with the Alderney Gaming Control Commission. Group Bernard Tapie, the main suitor involved with the beleaguered gaming giant, has high hopes regarding a potential reinstatement.
“Full Tilt Poker had a primary license with Alderney,” said Behnam Dayanim, an attorney for Tapie, “and still has a secondary license with [Canada’s] Kahnawake Gaming Commission. It makes sense from an efficiency perspective to continue those relationships. It would be our hope that under new ownership, we could have our AGCC license reinstated and continue our KGC license.”
One of the former kings of the online poker world, Full Tilt has fallen on desperate times since the Black Friday indictments and actions of this past April. With the suspension of their AGCC license during the summer, they have been unable to operate at all, resulting in a continued loss of funds.
The news gets even worse. With millions of bankroll dollars still unavailable to their former players, the company has suffered a massive failing in both its accounting and public relations departments. If they can somehow manage to return as a Europe-focused market (which is what the are apparently planning to do), securing customer loyalty and renewing player trust will be no small undertaking. It will be up to the new ownership group to set the tone.
In that same vein, several parties have voiced concerns over the past leaders of Full Tilt Poker, specifically regarding their continued involvement with the company. Group Bernard Tapie, for their part, doesn’t mean to allow Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Rafael Furst anywhere near the relaunched venture’s inner workings.
“What is clear, and is not up for debate,” states Dayanim, “is that to the extent there is any interest from former owners, it would be a minority or passive interest. There would be no continued involvement or oversight.”
For the disenchanted former users of Full Tilt, that statement in and of itself may provide a glimmer of hope.