This is news that no online poker player who is currently involved in the messy Full Tilt situation wants to hear. When the hearing between the Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC) and Full Tilt Poker got underway, the AGCC made sure that it was public for all of the poker players and media to be a part of. When it ended, poker players were left fuming.
If you remember, the big named sites such as Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, and Absolute Poker were all shut down in the United States back on April 15th. Things got worse for Full Tilt, as the AGCC suspended their gaming license on June 29th. This left an incredible amount of money locked up online at the poker site, even more than just the $150 million that the United States players still had left online.
The hearing began with players and media allowed in the room, but after multiple private meetings, it was decided that this would become a private hearing, and all of the members of media and players had to be removed from the room. The ending to the day, wasn’t what the players were looking for either, as their money will be locked up at least until September 15th, when the hearing was adjourned until that date.
As soon as the hearing kicked off (public was still allowed in at this time), Full Tilt’s lawyer, Martin Heslop requested that the hearing be adjourned due to the potential partial buying of the company by a European investor. The AGCC wanted to continue with the hearing, but Full Tilt would not be cooperative, leading to another private meeting to figure out all of the details and the plan moving forward. In the end, it was decided to make the hearing private; which could help the players if it would help the company get bought by the investors in the end.
Some information that did come out during the public time, was that Full Tilt Poker owes ₤250,000 in licensing fees to the AGCC. Full Tilt has stated that they won’t be paying this if the site will not be back up and running once again. There are quite a few unanswered questions heading into the September 15th hearing, one of which being the question of whether or not the hearing will be public or private. Regardless of the type of hearing that it is, the biggest question is one of whether or not the online poker players will be getting their money paid back to them.