GPWA Times Magaine - Issue 23 - February 2013

By J Todd, Host, APCW Perspectives Weekly I n the aftermath of Black Fri- day, it became clear pretty quickly that PokerStars had all its ducks in a row, and that the other major online poker rooms that were servicing the U.S. were in big trouble. Absolute Poker/UB.com was the first to go under. Players and af- filiates alike had a sinking feeling that they’d never get what they were owed, and chances are pret- ty good that they never will. But after cheating scandals plagued those properties, was anyone re- ally surprised? When Full Tilt started faltering on making payments to players outside the U.S., then saw its li- cense revoked by Alderney, peo- ple started to wonder if they’d ever seen the funds they were owed from the world’s second- largest online poker room. But like a knight in shining armor riding in on a white horse, Pok- erStars came in to save the day, buying the disgraced property and paying players outside the United States every last cent they were owed. Americans are still awaiting word on how they’ll be able to claim their balances, but based on the rumors we’ve heard, PokerStars would have paid back Americans had the U.S. Depart- ment of Justice (DOJ) let them. Boy, doesn’t PokerStars sound like an incredibly ethical and morally just company? Swooping in and saving the industry, they deserve every bit of praise we can heap on them, right? Not so fast. Turns out Poker- Stars was a lot more interested in a quick power grab than doing right by the online poker commu- nity. Sure, the $547 million price tag to settle the DOJ’s claim was pretty hefty. And they’d also have to pay all those non-American player balances (a not-so-trifling $184 million), but they got a get- out-of-jail-free card (or at least a get-out-of-jail-for-$547-million card) AND absorbed their largest (only?) competitor. That’s worth $731 million dollars, right? Sure it is, especially when you get to stiff their old affiliates. That’s right, PokerStars (aka The Rational Group) announced late last year that they would not be honoring affiliate contracts made by the former owners of Full Tilt Poker, nor would they be paying any affiliates money owed to them by said owners. In fact, they re- opened the site for a few months without an affiliate program so they wouldn’t have to pay any af- filiates for new players at the site. Affiliates put in the hard work and sent their players to the site, and now PokerStars gets to profit from that work without even pay- ing those affiliates the balances that are past due. Don’t be fooled by their seemingly charitable actions. PokerStars is a ruthless money-making machine, and this time, they gave affiliates the shaft. W all of S hame APCW’s Wall of Shame