Full Tilt Poker To Be Cannibalized For $35 Million?
March 8, 2012 11:48 amAccording to a report on iGaming, in case of the $80 million Groupe Bernard Tapie deal falling through, another company is waiting in the wing to snap up Full Tilt Poker’s software for between $30 and $35 million.
At the height of its popularity, Full Tilt Poker was raking in around $1 million a day, while its software was considered the best in the business. Rush Poker was also one of FTP’s major innovations, which allowed a huge pool of players to participate in either cash or tournament games, and be transferred to a new table instantly when they fold their hand.
Consequently, Full Tilt’s software is considered highly desirable and in the past, unconfirmed reports have mentioned both bwin.party and 888Poker as potential interested parties in acquiring its software. Now, it seems, an unnamed UK private equity firm would also be seeking to acquire it for cannibalization purposes and as the iGaming article reports:
“The deal would centre around offering in the region of $30 to $35 million for the software alone, while the FTP name, brand and all associated with it would be then wound up. The funds for the software would be deposited in a neutral account for Administrators of the company to distibute to creditors of FTP.”
Of course, this back-up plan is only worth around 40% of the Groupe Bernard Tapie deal, and would see the Full Tilt brand disappear from the industry altogether. However, in the event of the GBT deal not being struck, it may prove the only option.
Nevertheless, Full Tilt executive Ray Bitar doesn’t seem willing to take that route just yet, and recently announced:
“I have been cooperating fully with the DOJ so they can complete their investigation. Beyond that, I spend a good deal of my time making sure that FTP survives and that the players get repaid.”