Wicked Chops Poker Insider

Caesars IPO Should Have Little Impact On Online Poker Plans
Big news today as Caesars Entertainment (CZR: Nasdaq) IPO’d. The stocked opened trading on Wednesday at $9 per share and closed up 71% at closing price of $15.39. Good news for some for...

Full Tilt Practically Drawing Dead to Relaunch by March
In a recent interview with Gaming Intelligence, Laurent Tapie said that he hopes to have a re-branded Full Tilt Poker launched by March 1. Ok then. There’s a better chance of Layne Flack repaying his debt...

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White Friday: DoJ Modifies Stance on Wire Act; Nevada Ready for iPoker?

by Wicked Chops Entity on 12.23.2011 in Poker News | 1 comment

Merry Christmas online poker.

To paraphrase Ice Cube, “There was no barking from the dog, no smog, and the DoJ said the wire act only applies to sports betting.”

Friday was a good day for online poker.

We’ll get up more analysis tomorrow, but in somewhat unprecedented news, the DoJ issued a release saying that the 1961 Wire Act now only applies to sports betting–not poker.

Say U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole in the release:

The Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) has analyzed the scope of the Wire Act, 18 U.S.c § 1084, and concluded that it is limited only to sports betting.

These types of about-faces from the DoJ are genuinely unheard of and unique. While this news most immediately impacts lotteries–which have wanted to sell tickets online for years–it should have significant positive ramifications for online poker as well.

Groupe Bernard Tapie Officially Acquires Full Tilt Poker

by Wicked Chops Entity on 11.17.2011 in Poker News | 2 comments

Vive la France!

It’s officially official.

Groupe Bernarnd Tapie (GBT) has acquired Full Tilt Poker.

From the leaked Yahoo! Finance story:

GBT has agreed to acquire Full Tilt Poker for $80 million, in a deal that was brokered by the U.S. Department of Justice… As part of the deal, Full Tilt Poker had to agree to forfeit its assets to the U.S. government, which then sold the assets to the GBT…

As part of the deal, the French firm will take responsibility for the burned players outside the U.S., while the Department of Justice will facilitate paybacks to the American gamblers who lost about $150 million. American players will have to apply to the DOJ for compensation.

Also of note and very important, no further prosecution of Full Tilt shareholders will take place.

Full Tilt is expected to have a statement up late afternoon Pacific Time on Thursday. We’ll add more to the post at that time and have analysis of the deal later on Wicked Chops Insider.

In related news, holding true to our word, no more French jokes on WCP. Good thing we got one last shot in this morning.

UPDATE: Read Full Tilt’s official statement, including a quote from Ray Bitar, here.

Tagged as: featured, Full Tilt Poker, Groupe Bernard Tapie, Online Poker, Poker News

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Nevada Gaming Control Board to Take Online Gaming Licenses

by Wicked Chops Entity on 11.15.2011 in Poker News | 1 comment

The jockeying for position for when online poker is regulated keeps heating up.

In yet another “jockeying for position once the U.S. opens up” move, the Nevada Gaming Control Board will begin taking applications for intrastate online poker licenses beginning in February 2012.

From Vegasinc.com:

Mark Lipparelli, chairman of the Control Board, told industry professionals attending the two-day U.S. Online Gaming Law conference at Aria last Thursday that the agency would be geared to begin investigations that month.

Lipparelli said the process should be quicker for companies already holding other licenses in Nevada. Once licensed, companies would be able to offer online poker play within the state’s boundaries in closed-loop settings similar to the way some companies offer sports betting online or by telephone.

Companies still wouldn’t be allowed to offer online poker play to people living outside Nevada’s borders.

For our quick analysis of the news, go to Wicked Chops Insider here.

Tagged as: intrastate poker, Nevada Gaming Control, Online Poker, Poker News

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Absolute Poker, UB Will Attempt to Liquidate Assets, Repay Players

by Wicked Chops Entity on 10.28.2011 in Poker News | no comments

Absolute Poker and UB will be taking inventory of their assets and plan to sell their assets to give back to their customers.

Blanca Games Inc., owner of the CEREUS Network, which operates Absolute Poker and UB, has announced plans to liquidate its assets in order to reimburse U.S. and international customers.

The plan is pending SDNY/DoJ approval.

According to a Kahnawake Gaming Commission statement:

Over the past several weeks, we were advised of a potential solution prepared by Blanca and its representatives, establishing a process to liquidate Blanca’s assets and distribute proceeds to players. We understand that this process has been presented to SDNY for consideration and approval…the [KGC] has demanded that all parties complete their discussions and implement a reimbursement solution without further delay.

Read the statement in full here.

Where Full Tilt Poker owes global players an estimated $300-350M, CEREUS has a slightly more manageable nut of approximately $50M. Given the going rate for poker platforms these days (ranging on the low end of $10M, high-end of $115M), a sale of both the Absolute and UB software should effectively cover what’s owed in global player balances.

The crux, of course, is Federal approval of the plan. Regardless, it’s still an encouraging sign. Whether or not it happens though…well, you know.

In related whether-or-not-it-happens-still-encouraging-sign news, rumors abound that key members of Groupe Bernard Tapie have been “embedded” at the Full Tilt offices for a few weeks. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that the financials of a potential deal will work out, it at least indicates a level of seriousness in getting something done.

At this stage, recovering any money from either CEREUS or Full Tilt would be a major win for global customers, and that there are still (apparent) serious efforts by both companies to make this happen is, if nothing else, encouraging.

For more flawless asset shots, go here.

Tagged as: Absolute Poker, Black Friday, CEREUS, featured, Online Poker, Poker News, UB

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Six Poker Industry Thoughts Six Months After Black Friday

by Wicked Chops Entity on 10.15.2011 in Poker Industry Analysis | 4 comments

One thing that hasn't changed six months after Black Friday? Candice Swanepoel being to lingerie shoots what Lil' Wayne is to rap songs.

Today marks the sixth month anniversary since The Events of 4/15^TM. We’re going to expand on this further when we launch Wicked Chops Insider this coming week, but half-a-year after the DoJ crackdown, here our Six Things We Believe post-Black Friday.

1. It’s going to be awhile before there’s online poker again in the U.S. Yes, there are some positive signs that online poker is on the Congressional radar (read about the Barton-Frank alliance here). But there are plenty of signals indicating it will still be some time before anything happens on the legislative front. As a general rule, we plan for the worst, and hope for the best. The general industry consensus is that if nothing is passed by the end of this year or first quarter of 2012, we could be in for a long, loooong wait. We still believe the most likely scenario is online poker legislation gets pushed through during the lame-duck month after the 2012 elections/mid-term (it may be Senator Harry Reid‘s last chance to do it–and he owes the Nevada brick & mortars for his last re-election). If that’s the case, we’re still looking at sometime around 2014 or 2015, in all likelihood, before anyone is playing regulated online poker in the U.S.

2. Nobody is buying Full Tilt Poker. We’ve stated it before and we’ll state it again: we want a qualified buyer to purchase Full Tilt Poker and honor worldwide player accounts. We do not want Full Tilt to fold. However (and we’ll expand on this more in an Insider column we’re working on), it just doesn’t make financial sense for anyone to acquire the company. The total nut owed to players and the DoJ is too massive, and it would take too long for a purchaser to realize a return on that investment. So unless some creative financing/penalty payments are negotiated, Full Tilt Poker will not be sold.

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Tagged as: Black Friday, featured, Online Poker, online poker legislation, Poker News

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