Full Tilt Poker Lays Off 180 Dublin Employees

While most of the news around the Full Tilt Poker situation has been about the effects on the site’s millions of players and the site’s ownership group, there is another group of people severely affected by the company’s poor standing: its employees. According to IrishTimes.com and CardPlayer.com, Pocket Kings has laid off 180 staff at their Dublin offices.

According to former employees, the staff was offered “statutory redundancy,” a designation under which they would not be at fault for their dismissal and would be eligible for statutory redundancy pay. The layoffs came as a result of the shutdown of Full Tilt Poker, which resulted in a severe loss of revenue for Pocket Kings.

The news didn’t come to a surprise to either employees or those carefully watching the Full Tilt Poker situation. Last month, the company announced that they would be making up to 250 employees redundant after taking a four-week consultation period.

The loss of employees is possibly the best way to encapsulate the fading fortunes of Full Tilt Poker this year. As recently as February, FTP was planning to continue increasing their workforce for the rest of 2011, and projected hiring increases in future years as well.

However, the Black Friday indictments changed that plan dramatically, and things only got worse when the Alderney Gambling Control Commission revoked Full Tilt Poker’s operating licenses.

Since the layoffs, several Full Tilt Poker employees have posted on poker message boards, such as the forums at twoplustwo.com, telling stories about their experiences with the company. While there have been few insights about the legal ramifications of the actions of the company’s owners, the posts have shed some light on the day-to-day operations of the poker site, along with the atmosphere inside the company as things have gone increasingly sour for FTP and Pocket Kings.