Regulator Closes Full Tilt Poker Website

A gaming commission in Britain's Channel Islands said it shut down Full Tilt Poker, one of the world's most popular poker websites, ratcheting up pressure on an industry already reeling from a crackdown by the US.

Regulators from the island of Alderney visited the Dublin offices of Pocket Kings Ltd., Full Tilt's software arm, and advised employees there that the licenses for a series of affiliated companies in Alderney had been suspended. The regulators demanded that Pocket Kings stop providing software support, maintenance, marketing or other services to Full Tilt, said a person familiar with the situation. The shutdown comes as Full Tilt is courting potential investors and lenders in an effort to raise funding to pay back online poker players it owes money, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The Alderney Gambling Control Commission said it acted in response to U.S. indictments of executives at Full Tilt and other online poker companies in April as part of a crackdown by the U.S. Justice Department. The department accused the executives of bank fraud, running illegal gambling operations and other offenses. The department, which contends that online poker is outlawed in the U.S. under several federal and state laws, also filed a civil lawsuit against the sites, seeking at least $3 billion in civil money-laundering penalties and forfeiture. As part of that action, the agency stopped the sites from taking bets from players in the U.S. and also froze the funds in bank accounts associated with the companies.