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Group Bernard Tapie won't buy Full Tilt

Tags: doj, full tilt poker, group bernard tapie, pocket kings, pokerstars.
Posted on 25 April 2012 by "T".

Group Bernard Tapie Group made a statement yesterday in which they wrote that they have failed to reach an agreement with the United State Department of Justice to acquire the assets of Full Tilt Poker.

Groupe Bernard Tapie regrets to announce that, after seven months of intensive work, our efforts to obtain final approval of the United States Department of Justice of the agreement to acquire the assets of Full Tilt Poker have ended without success.

Ultimately, the deal failed due to two major issues.

The parties could not agree on a plan for repayment of ROW players.
GBT proposed a plan that would have resulted in immediate reinstatement of all ROW player balances, with a right to withdraw those funds over time, based on the size of the player balance and the extent of the player's playing activity on the re-launched site.  All players would have been permitted complete withdrawal of their balances, regardless of whether they played on the site, by a date certain, and 94.9% of ROW players would have been fully repaid on day 1.  DOJ ultimately insisted on full repayment with right of withdrawal within 90 days for all players- a surprise demand made in the 11th hour, after months of good-faith negotiations by GBT.

The legal complications surrounding the deal - specifically, questions surrounding the legality of the forfeiture under non-US laws - also proved unresolvable.
All of the key assets of the FTP companies reside outside of the United States.  A non-US court well might regard the purported forfeiture as a "fraudulent transaction" and declare it invalid or deem the acquirer of the assets responsible for all of those creditor obligations.
Given the $80 million purchase price, and the substantial amount of cash needed to relaunch FTP, those issues ultimately proved too substantial to overcome.
GBT is very conscious of the hopes it has created - among FTP employees that they will retain their jobs, among FTP players that they will recover their balances, and among the entire poker community that the world's finest poker platform will be relaunched and bring a needed added element of competition to a world market that today is fully dominated by a single operator.

GBT cannot accept the end of those hopes.

For that reason, unless a concrete and legally viable solution is found in the very coming days to save the employees and repay the players of FTP, we will move to our own plan of action.
We understand from press reports that the DOJ may have entered into an agreement with PokerStars pursuant to which PokerStars will acquire the FTP assets.
If accurate, we can only assume that PokerStars determined that it was willing to accept these legal and financial risks in order to resolve its own legal situation with DOJ.

If a PokerStars acquisition of FTP means that all FTP players will be fully repaid immediately, we are very happy for the players, as their final and full repayment has always been our priority.
We only regret that such a deal would signal further consolidation of a poker market already dominated by a single player - an outcome that may raise antitrust concerns and that, in the long run, is probably not good for players and for the whole online poker industry."

source: iGaming Post


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17 comments on "Group Bernard Tapie won''t buy Full Tilt"


 bullettooth125/04/2012 08:30:16 GMT
seems it is true then. darn it.
sounds like the doj were being awkward.
hats off to gbt for their hard work the last few months. sorry they couldnt make a deal with the doj.
 GoTrixo25/04/2012 08:36:33 GMT
Posted by bullettooth1:
seems it is true then. darn it.
sounds like the doj were being awkward.
hats off to gbt for their hard work the last few months. sorry they couldnt make a deal with the doj.


yep.. hooray and damn in one.. PS will continue to dominate online & offline poker. But i doubt that there will be good promotions in the near future.. on FTP or PS.

After all looking forward how its gonna end.
 simon625/04/2012 08:56:22 GMT
ye disgraisful ps will be laughing all the way to the bank after say 2 years, all outlay brought back in by then and well more profit for a site that I am not tottally fond off, again a disgraise to USA governing licencing bodies thoughts on this matter only one winner here and it aint the punter, you mite say ok then lets shut Tesco down and give all the foot traffic to ASDA obvously that wont happen but its the same meaning giving the major slice of the market to one player.

Why dont GBT just start a new business up and take all the FTP players, hard to do yes with the licence, no cash return for the players but a new site to give more competition in the market place, I dont see the likes of 888 poker being able to compete for another 5 or 6 years yet against the big cheese, maybe never.


 Flippedchips25/04/2012 09:12:42 GMT
Posted by simon6:
ye disgraisful ps will be laughing all the way to the bank after say 2 years, all outlay brought back in by then and well more profit for a site that I am not tottally fond off, again a disgraise to USA governing licencing bodies thoughts on this matter only one winner here and it aint the punter, you mite say ok then lets shut Tesco down and give all the foot traffic to ASDA obvously that wont happen but its the same meaning giving the major slice of the market to one player.

Why dont GBT just start a new business up and take all the FTP players, hard to do yes with the licence, no cash return for the players but a new site to give more competition in the market place, I dont see the likes of 888 poker being able to compete for another 5 or 6 years yet against the big cheese, maybe never.




Im sure you dont have much money on tilt Smile because i bet all the people that did wished it had been on stars when black friday ect happened.

Since when did 888 poker compete with stars, its 10am uk time and stars has 93k people online. I maybe wrong but does 888 poker even get a 1/4 of they numbers at peak times?
 lukasb25/04/2012 10:07:37 GMT
All this FT news were and are filled with speculation from the start. In one side there's all the players that had money there and wish ( sometimes without seeing the reality of things) FT to be back on no matter what or who sets it online so they can withdraw their money. In the other side there's the more pragmatic view of things. FullTilt will only be back on if the us gov gets its Dollar Dollar Dollar ... period. no matter what ppl around the world wish for or not this is the reality of things: No money for them no money for you.

I don't think this tale will end any time soon. Do feel sry for everyone that lost their bankrolls but probably not even for next christmas shopping ull be counting with that money.
 Chartoule25/04/2012 10:17:18 GMT
This really surprise me. Lot of work during mounths they finnally ask for license to the AGCC, create a company to manage the new FTP, etc.. BANG!! All broke for the 90 days payment.

I think the DoJ see a better option (in $$$$) in Pokerstars. Well, we are waiting another time.
 simon625/04/2012 11:08:48 GMT
Flippedchips I think there is something more than your chips being flipped in your world, for 1 dont make statements that u know f- all off, it aint f-all to do with how many bucks I have in FTP, or 2 were did I say 888 are competing with ps, and 3 wind your kneck in and f off.
 starbay25/04/2012 11:22:02 GMT
realy bad news for all that have money stuck there Sad but if the american government dont get the dollars ,then group bt doesn't get a licence Evil
 noonlion25/04/2012 11:56:42 GMT
I think it's a mixed bag - not having monye on there myself I'm not fussed by what happens, but obviously plenty of people have been shafted.

Ultimately ANY deal should involve immediate access and ability to withdraw original bank balances, no effing around.
 mreid12325/04/2012 21:47:21 GMT
i think that pokerstars is cheating me more then fulltilt .. I at least Made it to first place a few times in there 180 mans pokerstars is like all bad beats.
 Greenmohave25/04/2012 22:16:01 GMT
I guess my hopes are shot down, but I believe a site will open. There's to much money to be made and someone apparently knows that. I believ that's what the statement means by " other plans" we'll see!
 GIOMi626/04/2012 03:03:19 GMT
I think that PokerStars will buy FTP and they will 100% refund the poker players, just wait and see, it will come good I think. I keep hoping.
 pochui26/04/2012 07:18:05 GMT
bernard: here is my unofficial statement- damn i do not want to repay players- i just want to buy the brand make a few millions and spend them in any way i like- now all this talk of me having to repay the players is saddening me for sure- there are so much stuff i want to buy- ferrari, yacht, private jet, give me a break...
 MarcWinz26/04/2012 07:29:37 GMT
Guess the DOJ didnt get their back handers !!! I am sure they could have arranged for a man in dark sunglasses and a with a tan to pay them in brown envelopes !!! Oops I thought they did - Bernard Tapie. Oh well he obviously didnt pay enough...................... Can any US player tell me are the DOJ as crooked as they seem to me?

GL to you all.........Glad I aint got much on FTP - guess I'll never see it!!!



Big Smile Big Smile Big Smile
 Fakiry26/04/2012 10:49:51 GMT
Looks like Group Bernard Tapie was trying to ensure the health of former players’ wallets, they wanted to give back the money to those who have had funds in the old FTP accounts, but with the condition of continuing activity there. This sounds like having some kind of promiscuity in this relation. “Ok, we will give you your money, but you will keep betting it on our tables”. Like if players haven’t already ran into enough risks of loosing it either in the tables and with the closure of the service.
 Chartoule26/04/2012 12:20:45 GMT
I read some articles about the way GBT was trying to refund our balances. We will begin with 100$ withadrawble (abd the full bankroll playable) and the rest we will must rake a lot to free it. That is why DoJ break the deal seems to be.
 From_Lesotho01/05/2012 00:12:51 GMT
Bummer, ohh well, hope the $5 i had there will help em do something, sure do miss rush poker, stars doesnt really do it for me

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