Tapie plots breakaway firm after FTP collapse
Several senior members of staff at Pocket Kings understood to have been offered roles at Dublin-based Game Cubed.
Groupe Bernard Tapie principal Laurent Tapie hopes to secure the services of current Full Tilt Poker staff for his own egaming company, according to an email seen by eGaming Review.
Published by independent poker news site Diamond Flush Poker, the email “ sent just hours in advance of GBT’s statement that its proposed FTP acquisition deal had failed on April 24 “ offers “the entire Pocket Kings key staff” jobs with Game Cubed, the company set up by Laurent Tapie and Prosper Masquelier in Ireland.
Tapie says in the email: “With your help and know-how, we will launch a new website that will be best of breed in 6-7 months,” but includes a caveat that it will only be launched if he is able to attract all the staff members he has approached.
He adds that the proposed new site would allow former FTP players to recover their balances previously held with the former Alderney licensee, and that he has been “Working with the Alderney licensing authorities on obtaining a license and getting their help on the repayment plan.”
Last week the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) received a licence application from Eyecon Pty Ltd on behalf of “an Alderney company yet to be incorporated”. eGaming Review contacted both Tapie and the AGCC with the hope of discovering whether the application related in any way to Game Cubed or to Eyecon Marketing, the company understood to have run Full Tilt’s VIP store. However neither were available for comment at the time of writing.
According to the email, Tapie had provided a deadline of the end of last week – it is currently unclear whether that deadline was met. He also pledged to revive negotiations with PokerStrategy.com over an affiliate deal, although PokerStrategy CEO Dominik Kofert revealed the last time his company had held discussions with Tapie was “Around two weeks ago in Dublin, when it looked as though he was going to relaunch Full Tilt.
“We would speak to GBT if they are looking to start their own poker room and want to work with us,” Kofert added, explaining that “We’d treat them like we would any other new poker room coming to us. If it’s run properly and they have a good business plan we would consider working with them.”
Gcubed Limited (the company behind Game Cubed) was established in Dublin in February, initially as “New Full Tilt Ltd”, while a second company named New Full Tilt Limited was set up in Malta this year.
Following the creation of the two companies Groupe Bernard Tapie sought to relaunch Full Tilt Poker under an Alderney licence held by FTP subsidiary Orinic which had been suspended last June by the AGCC, however this application was withdrawn following the failure of GBT to reach an agreement with United States authorities over its proposed acquisition of Full Tilt’s assets.