Daily Gambling News Update | Thursday, January 26, 2012
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2012. Full Tilt may die for Jesus’s sins. Washington D.C. holds hearing on igaming.
Full Tilt may die for Jesus’s sins: It’s been nine months after Black Friday, and great part of popular frustration and hostility over Full Tilt Poker’s incompetence has mostly been directed at Howard Lederer and Ray Bitar. The DOJ’s amended complaint in September brought Chris Ferguson more into the public spotlight, as it was alleged that “Jesus” was the largest shareholder and beneficiary of irresponsibly misappropriated company funds.
An exclusive and clearly long-in-the-making report by Subject:Poker released yesterday has had the belated power of bringing Ferguson’s name into unprecedented disrepute. Much like it has previously done with the accounting histories of Phil Ivey and David Benyamine, Subject:Poker spelunks the banking transactions of Chris Ferguson during his tenure at Full Tilt Poker before and after Black Friday, and in the process unearths a parade of disturbing financial improprieties.
While the numerical labyrinth detailed in the report makes for a worthwhile read, the gist of it comes down to a lump sum of $14 million which Mr. Ferguson and his attorney believe he is entitled to, and probably is under certain Babylonian interpretations of the law. This money, however, is presently in the possession of Pocket Kings and up for seizure when the company finally disrobes before the Department of Justice. Chris Ferguson and his attorney, Ian Imrich, have gone as far as threatening to stall or compromise the ongoing deal with Groupe Bernard Tapie by filing a number of creative injunctions which would supposedly elicit gasps. The success of these efforts, however, if undertaken at all, is undermined by Subject:Poker.
Additional developments will be reported as they are available. Chris Ferguson continues to wonder whether he will ever see the entirety of his millions, but he can be certain he will inherit the full amount of the poker community’s hatred.
Sources: Subject:Poker
Washington D.C. holds hearing on igaming: The District of Columbia’s Council Committee on Finance and Revenue has been holding, and continues to hold at the time of this writing, its January 26 hearing on the issue of online gaming and whether the District should proceed in officially enabling it.
The District’s legislature approved the legality of intrastate online gaming last year, on the condition that the DC Lottery be the entity to control it, but online gaming per se has not yet gone into effect due to the concerns of a number of lawmakers and segments of the population.
At today’s hearing spoke Councilman Michael Brown, a longtime proponent of online gaming in the District, along with DC Lottery Executive Director Buddy Roogow. Roogow told the Committee, chaired by Councilman Jack Evans, that the Lottery could begin offering “play money” online gaming within 30 days, and real money gaming in a matter of months, depending on the legislature’s go-ahead.
Some opposition to the implementation of online gaming came in the person of Councilman Tommy Wells, who called for the repeal of online gaming in general. Wells claimed he was not opposed to gambling in principle, but rather had concerns about the efficacy of the current process in place. The livestream of the hearing can be viewed at the link underneath.
Sources: Council of the District of Columbia
QuadJacks.com – Thursday, January 26, 2012