Quote:
Originally Posted by Avaritia
Xanadu, thank you for a great synopsis.
My 3 lingering questions were:
1) why did PokerStars have to aquire Full Tilt? It just seems like a really bizarre way to come to terms with the US govt. Was this something pstars put on the table to settle the sh*t show or was it something essentially forced on them by the DOJ?
2) what was the real driver behind the doj having interest in this in the first place?
3) (not a troll) is there a confirmed amount on what Tom Dwans compensation was before he left ftp? Was he a part of the monthly payment plan? Did the pros have to reimburse these funds? I found an article with him mentioning the return of 1M of sponsorship funds. Was that confirmed and was it forced by the DOJ?
You are welcome.
1. There was never any public revelation on how the deal came to fruition. That was private between the DOJ and PS. IMO, it was Pokerstars who brought ownership of the FTP assets to the table. There probably wasn't a big difference in the net cost to PS, i.e. it was likely thrown in for a nominal figure. Really a great move by PS to acquire their biggest competitor at the time. Although the FTP site petered out in the long run, it no doubt added a significant amount of value for their $4.9B sale negotiations with Amaya.
2. Passage of the UIGEA prompted enforcement of anti-gambling laws by the DOJ against online gambling/poker. The motivating forces behind the UIGEA were: agenda of the conservative right; protection by state governors of in-state vested interests (b&m casinos, race tracks, lotteries, etc.); lobbying by major sports teams, especially the NFL, mainly to protect the Fantasy Sports industry, which generates huge advertising revenues for the sports team by greatly increasing tv viewership of their games; and the b&m gambling vested interest themselves (casinos, race tracks, etc.) to squash the competition for gambling dollars. Plus, the money seizures and settlements themselves were great motivation for the DOJ personnel, who are largely judged, rewarded and promoted based on total dollar amounts they bring into the government coffers. Tzvetkoff certainly played a major role in the success of the DOJ to bring about the seizures and indictments of Black Friday, but he was a break in the case they needed, not the original impetus for them to pursue the issue.
3. I've never seen any confirmed details about the breakdown of the amounts received by each FTP owner and pro, individually. Dwan not long after Black Friday publicly promised (voluntarily) to return $1M of his sponsorship money, to be used for reimbursing US players if the players weren't otherwise made whole by FTP. Although a nice gesture, it wasn't practical in the long run - how would it be divied up among the many thousands of players, for one. I think his heart was in the right place, and it was probably meant to prompt other owners and pros to make similar pledges. He never had to make good on the promise, since the PS settlement provided all the funds needed to refund all the US players.