can someone please put two and two together and ban this guy.

Unfortunately this is also so very true but I have to say that I believe that Tapie is seriously misguided if he thinks that depending on a significant player source of funding is going to be anything other than detrimental to encouraging people to play on any new FTP.

You fail to see the big picture. The DOJ shutting down FTP was a hostile takeover. Wynn/Caesars/Milken is behind Tapie somehow. They have a global monopoly. Do you think somehow they just forgot about all of France? The purpose was to not to profit from Full Tilt Poker brand, it was to eliminate competition for a global online monopoly. Now they have the software and no competition.

Whilst I have little doubt the UIGEA was all about paving the way for US companies to get into the online gambling world (with possibly also an unfair advantage over the RoW) and also so that the US government could get their share of revenue I also have zero doubt that Tapie has anything at all to do with Wynn/Caesars et al. Tapie is not in thsi to serve a US land based casino's interests. In fact there are many global gambling companies that are going to offer serious competition to these US companies you mention.

In fact you can see how many countries across the globe are now looking to get their cut too which will eventually mean licences are going to have to be granted on a country by country basis as many of them are reviewing online gambling law so its hard to see how US companies are going to have a global monopoly on such things.

As for software I believe Cyberarts are going to be supplying rival software which differs from FTP's and overseas countries may or may not be allowed to enter the US market but cant see how there is not going to be any competition.

Every single day the 1st place i come to is this thread. Hoping on the off chance that the cliffs have been updated, but no. It still reads october 7th everytime i look.
Christ, you telling me nothing substantial has happened since then? Really?

Been gone a few days, good to see that all the outstanding issues have been resolved!

I've PMed Chinamaniac to move the whole topic out of the thread.

Now, if only getting some information out of FTP was that simple...

Hey Tapie/DOJ/FTP....

I need a buy a car in about a month or so.

Get your act together.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...i_sku=14254324

Morphy

lol man. it's funny but on the other hand actually not.

Harry, your last sentence is the EXACT purpose of the DOJ's civil action. If DOJ were to succeed in its in rem action against the companies, the result would be that the US government would own the companies, not the current shareholders.

The current shareholders can fight being stripped of their ownership by filing claims in the civil in rem action. If they lose there, and consider themselves innocent owners financially damaged by the forfeiture, they could also maybe use the remission process.

The civil in rem action IS the due process Noah points out the owners are entitled to before being stripped of their property.

Not really. FTP has no control of its future at this point. The ability for the current owners to revive it as a business is non-existent. Anything that happens with the assets is ultimately in the control of other people.

If they do not agree to "sell" them, they will simply have them taken from them. It is not like they have a lot of choices here.

I agree with the first statement, good point.

As far as the second point, all mafia works on political pressure too. Why do you think they hand out food at Christmas, pay little old ladies' rent, and throw dollar bills and change at little poor kids? Danny Greene would never of lived as long as he did without the protection of his neighborhood people, and he was an Irish independent gangster taking on the Sicilian Mob in Cleveland (Mayfiled Road Family).

Politics matter to mafia, as they need the indifference, respect, fear, or affection of the people...just like government. Some (most) are indifferent to government and don't vote, some respect it (out of nostalgia or service rendered; "cops are your firends" or "military fights for our freedoms"), some fear the government (like me; I pay taxes because if I don't pay the extortion they will kidnap me and put me in a cage), and some have an affection for the government (those who naively believe it is beneficial or benign, and those dependent on it). All mafia, whether the one in charge and making itself legal (government), or the lesser illegal kind competing with the government monopoly, are all dependent on politics to some degree. If the inmates turn on the guards (and they can at any time) the entire thing unravels. This is why I never could understand how there aren't more prison riots (actually I do, it's herd psychology, power of crowds). For a good example, look at the anti-pizzo movement in Sicily...pizzo is protection money, and many are refusing to pay and posting signs, holding marches, et cetera to encourage others not to pay...and since it is so large, it's working. Politics is everything, even if just ad populum.

Not that this is a political thread...just responding to what you said.

But all in all, you are correct on your first point.

Link to article on the Andiopizzo movemenet (Pizzo-free or Goodbye Pizzo):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...7/sicily.italy

Like mafia, government only works when we allow it. The minute we en masse resist it, it retains no real power anymore.

Except, you see, they do have a measure of control, just not what you think. They presently have the ability to vote their shares, they have the ability to pump capital into their company of their own accord to make up shortcomings (I'm not at all suggesting this is at all going to happen, because we know it's not...I only point out they are not prevented from doing so).

The key difference between FTP and MF Global/Madoff is that the latter two are in fact and in law under the control of bankruptcy court judges and trustees, and thus they in fact have no operational control of their business whatsoever.

Right now, FTP could still, for instance, sign an agreement to license their proprietary technology to another company. They wouldn't see any revenue from the deal, because of the in rem, but their companies are not themselves under control of a court. It's a subtle difference, but not a meaningless one.

Can I make a suggestion here? I'm more than willing to listen to some of the more pessimistic/argumentative anti-FTP positions here. But do yourselves a favor, and stop making "cigar and lobster" jokes in EVERY SINGLE ****ING POST. It's just tiresome and childish. We get it -- scumbags ran Full Tilt. Everyone pretty much agrees on this point. Move on and discuss the topic intelligently.

Having these passive-aggressive rage-gasms really detracts from your arguments.

Completely agree.




Actually.... maybe one more.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1905-PC-Anth...-/370392726645

I thank you!

Shellfish with corona

Lol nice!

I actually think the lobster jokes are quite appropriate when used in moderation.

I'm guessing three_dee would also be offended by this joke?

"If older women chasing after younger boys are called cougars are older men chasing after younger boys to be called Nittany Lions"???

It's a widely circulated joke already and I can't take credit for it but a good laugh on a slow newsday can never hurt.

@Vam nice! Very nice! Lol

The more I think about it the more I cringe when anybody comes in here suggesting others shouldn't badmouth the heck out of Bitard. It isn't like the guys isn't largely responsible for a $350 million fraud/theft scam. It isn't like the same dude isn't rubbing it in everybody's nose with reports of his kitchen staff bringing him lobster. Ray brought it on himself so he 100% deserves all the needling he gets. If it slightly derails the thread on a slow newsday so be it.

I am an optimist and I enjoy the lobster jokes.

I do not eat lobsters. When I see them in the store I feel like buying them, driving to Maine and setting them free.

Well, it wasn't about being offended, at all. It was about being annoyed and disappointed.

Maybe I should rethink my choice of words. Posting "cigar and lobster lolz" is not a "joke". It's just passive aggressive whining. What you posted was a joke. It was funny, I LOLed.


I didn't say he shouldn't be criticized. It's just that most of these posts come off as uneducated and content-less whining.

No offense but why get upset about this thread? All of the new info that is available has been available for awhile now. At this point its just interested parties chewing the fat around the water cooler. Nothing anyone here says or does is going to impact the final outcome at this point.

Lighten up, smoke a cigar, have some lobster. Relax.

can't afford any

no news,no information,no nothing.
Considering that wheels would need to start turning soon if they ever want to be online again-it not very promising to hear nada....

I guess we should hear some news next week...

to be honest, the fact we have no news so far is actually pretty good news.