Full Tilt Poker Releases New Statement Ahead of AGCC Meeting

Full Tilt Poker released a new statement to PokerStrategy.com, detailing their financial situation heading into an upcoming meeting with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.

According to the statement, Pocket Kings – the company which owns Full Tilt Poker – realizes that they need to cut costs in order to stay afloat going forward. In the statement, this figure was pegged at €12 million.

In addition, FTP expressed optimism that they would be able to regain their licence, announcing that they have hired a financial advisor to help them raise capital, either with or without an outside investor.

Full Tilt Poker has been offline since June 29, when the AGCC suspended Full Tilt Poker’s gambling license for their inability to pay American players after Black Friday. FTP and Pocket Kings have been in talks with investors in an attempt to inject capital into the company, but have yet to come to any agreements. Meanwhile, players around the world have become angry with the site for their failure to pay players who wish to get funds from their FTP accounts. In fact, players from both the United States and Canada have filed class-action lawsuits against the company seeking restitution for the players who have standing account balances on the poker site.

The statement read in full:

"On April 15th 2011 the United States Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment against a number of individuals employed by major online poker operators. After the issuance of that indictment and a related civil case brought by the United States government, Full Tilt Poker withdrew from the US market. Then in a related action, on June 29th, 2011, Full Tilt Poker had its operating licenses suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.

As a result, Pocket Kings Ltd. (provider of marketing and technology services to Full Tilt Poker) has adopted a cost optimization program and estimates that they need to reduce their costs by approximately €12m. This program is intended to streamline the company’s operations in order to better position itself for future growth and profitability in Full Tilt Poker’s markets outside of the U.S.

If all of the required cost savings were to be achieved through redundancies, approximately 250 positions could be affected; however the exact number cannot be confirmed until the conclusion of a consultation process with its workforce.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Pocket Kings firmly believes it has a very strong future in Full Tilt Poker’s Non-US Markets, and is fully committed to ensuring Full Tilt Poker restores the site and repay players in full. To this end, Full Tilt Poker has retained Sea Port Group Securities, LLC as its financial advisor with regard to raising capital and/or assisting in securing a strategic partner in order to fund continued operations of Full Tilt Poker's non-U.S. business. The Company is in active discussions with several parties and will provide a further statement in due course."