Alderney Pulls Full Tilt Poker's License

There is more trouble for Alderney based Full Tilt Poker. Today the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) suspended the licenses of Vantage Ltd, Oxalic Ltd, and Orinic Ltd, the companies that form the online poker room known as Full Tilt Poker. Because of the suspension, Full Tilt Poker is immediately required to cease all gaming operations immediately.

The suspension is a result of a special investigation by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, which found that the licensees were operating "contrary to Alderney legislation". The investigation was prompted by "the indictments unsealed by US Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on 15 April 2011."

According to AGCC Executive Director Andre Wilsenach, "The decision to suspend the eGambling licence was in the public interest and, because of the seriousness and urgency of the matter, it required that immediate action be taken ahead of the regulatory hearing."

To add to Full Tilt's woes, money processor Moneybookers has pulled its services from the poker room. Quoting from postings by a Moneybookers affiliate manager from an online message board:

"Our customers are the most important part of our business. That is why we have, from today, stopped accepting deposits made to Full Tilt Poker. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve become aware of a situation where Full Tilt has not honoured customer pay-outs and we’ve been working to try and resolve this issue on our customers’ behalf. Unfortunately this hasn’t been possible and today’s suspension of their licence by the Alderney Gambling Commission has validated our decision. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers and hope you understand that extraordinary circumstances, beyond our control, have brought about this action."

Full Tilt Poker was formed in 2004 with the involvement of many top poker stars including Chris Ferguson, and Phil Ivey. In April, 2011 it was one of several online poker rooms that had its .com domain seized by the United States government, a day referred to by many online gamblers as "Black Friday".