Full Tilt Poker Screw Affiliates
The new Full Tilt Poker is set to reopen on 6th November 2012 under the new owners PokerStars amid a wide range of controversy and without US players.
The latest controversy stems from Full Tilt Poker not paying affiliates their outstanding commissions and all previously referred players will not be carried forward, while this news was somewhat expected to some extent, they added further insult to injury by emailing their intent of a policy to remove amounts already paid into affiliates player balances from their player balances/bankrolls.
The Rational Group which operates PokerStars have denied any accountability to the debt owed to Full Tilt Affiliates despite the agreement reached between themselves and the US DOJ which clearly stated that the company must make available to foreign players all balances that were held in the Full Tilt accounts within 90 days.
The Full Tilt Poker affiliate website will remain inaccessible until they establish a new affiliate program which hints of a cross PokerStars / Full Tilt one access affiliate site where both brands will be promoted from, set to open sometime in 2013.
Full Tilt Poker Will Not Pay Affiliates
Full Tilt Poker have confirmed via an email sent out to affiliates that they will not pay affiliates and any previously referred sign ups will not carry forward when they reopen on 6 November 2012 under the Rational Group aka PokerStars .
The PokerStars affiliate program is among the least affiliate friendly in comparison to other offerings as is PokerStars affiliate support, yet despite that they remain the number one brand. On the other hand Full Tilt Poker was extremely affiliate friendly, so my guess is that those days are gone and we will see the influence of PokerStars management ruling their newly acquired brand.
Unfortunately, this is rather bad news for players too, despite PokerStars claiming Full Tilt Poker will be run as its own brand the impact of PokerStars management will obviously play a huge role in screwing players at every given opportunity, including former rakeback plans and reward points previously earned.
PokerStars will now be in firm control of internet poker as we know it even though there is a strong chance that Full Tilt will flop based on: US players not being allowed to play (which made up a large contingent of their players), the global decline of poker and player trust issues.
The Full Tilt brand may fade out similar to what Empire Poker became after PartyPoker bought them out a few years back.
The Full Tilt Poker not paying affiliates email follows below:
Dear,
As you may be aware, The Rational Group, which operates PokerStars, obtained certain assets of Full Tilt Poker as part of a settlement reached with the US Department of Justice Southern District of New York.
Under the settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, The Rational Group committed to make available for withdrawal the online poker account balances of all non-U.S. players of Full Tilt Poker. FullTiltPoker.com will launch on November 6, and from this date forward non-U.S. players will be able to withdraw their balances, which relate to previous player activity on the site. These funds will be made available for withdrawal out of the Rational Group’s own resources through funds which will be transferred by the Rational Group into segregated bank accounts.
Other than the non-US player balances, The Rational Group did not assume any liabilities of the previous Full Tilt Poker companies and therefore previous contractual agreements that Full Tilt Poker may have had with affiliates were excluded. As such, The Rational Group is not liable and will not pay for any affiliate earnings which may have been due to you under your agreement with any former Full Tilt Poker company.
For those accounts where player funds are commingled with funds derived from affiliate earnings, The Rational Group will only be making the portion of the funds relating to your previous player activity available for withdrawal.
Separately, as we are working around the clock to get the new FullTiltPoker.com site up-and-running by November 6, we are unable to offer an affiliate program for Full Tilt Poker at this time. We do intend to launch a new affiliate program in the first quarter of 2013, under the Rational Group, which will be a joint program with PokerStars. This future program will give you the opportunity to promote and earn from both brands. We look forward to engaging with you on a new partnership going forward.
Sincerely,
Full Tilt Poker
At this stage our best advice would be to log in to your Full Tilt Poker account and cash out any pending amounts as soon as they reopen, then wait at least a few months to see if the new Full Tilt Poker brand is stable or not.