Exclusive: Pocket Kings appoints liquidators

Former Full Tilt Poker marketing and technology Pocket Kings is to be placed into liquidation, six months after various assets of the poker operator were acquired by PokerStars parent company Rational Group.

According to documents seen by eGaming Review, a resolution was passed earlier this month agreeing that “The company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business and…it is advisable to wind up the same.”

Declan McDonald of PricewaterhouseCoopers has been named as the liquidator, with the resolution to wind up the company signed by company secretary Ephraim Lindquist. Liquidators have also been appointed for Rekop Limited, the company through which Full Tilt Poker held a French operating licence until July 2011.

Pocket Kings’ most recent annual returns, for the year ended 30 April 2010, listed former Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar as its chief executive and secretary, with Deirdre O’Shaughnessy also listed as a director of the company.

Following the suspension of FTP’s Alderney egaming licences in June 2011, Pocket Kings chief marketing officer Lothar Rentschler resigned, while the company laid off 180 staff members at its Dublin base in October of that year.

In April last year, when ISPT director Laurent Tapie was in negotiations to acquire the operator, Pocket Kings began advertising for new roles, however these negotiations ended later that month and Pocket Kings was among the assets forfeited by FTP ahead of its sale to Rational Group.

Last August saw PokerStrategy.com sue Pocket Kings for US$1.2m in unpaid fees related to its affiliate relationship before FTP’s shutdown. A spokesperson for the affiliate confirmed to eGR that the claim is still ongoing, explaining: “We have filed for judgment and, as and when received, we will be taking all appropriate measures to enforce the same against Pocket Kings, whether or not in liquidation.”

A spokesperson for PokerStars was unavailable for comment when contacted by eGR.