AGCC publishes independent report on Full Tilt Poker findings

After many in the poker community questioned the Aldernay Gambling Control Commission’s (AGCC) handling of Full Tilt Poker in the lead-up and aftermath of Black Friday the online gaming regulatory body hired an independent investigator to look into their handling of the matter. The AGCC hired Peter Dean, the former Chairman of the British Gambling Commission, to conduct the investigation, and Dean’s findings were published this week in a 12-page report.

The AGCC also wrote a press release detailing the findings of the report by Dean:

Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has today published the full report and recommendations following an independent review of its actions and processes in relation to Vantage Limited, Filco Limited, and Oxalic Limited together trading as Full Tilt Poker (FTP).

The report, commissioned in December 2011, was conducted by Peter Dean CBE - former Chairman of the British Gambling Commission. A full copy can be found at Click here André Wilsenach, Executive Director of the AGCC has welcomed the report’s findings and accepted its recommendations in full. Speaking following the report’s publication, Mr Wilsenach said,

‘The AGCC would like to thank Peter Dean for his detailed and thorough report. We believed it was important, given the sensitivities surrounding the revocation of Full Tilt Poker’s licences that an independent review should be carried out into the way in which the AGCC conducted itself throughout this process, and we are grateful that this has now been completed.

‘We wanted to reassure ourselves, and those who take an interest in our activities, that should mistakes have been made then we would recognise them, and if lessons could be learned that we would learn them.

‘We note that today’s report finds that “AGCC fulfilled its statutory obligations in relation to FTP and that its actions were appropriate, timely and fair.” That is the standard to which we aspire.

‘Nonetheless, Mr Dean’s report does make valuable recommendations on how we can make improvements in the light of what has happened. We accept those proposals and will seek to implement them as soon as practically possible.

‘None of this, of course, will compensate those players who have lost money as a result of FTPs actions, and we have great sympathy for them. But, as the report confirms, a regulatory regime cannot be proof against deliberate concealment or deception. Our focus now is to assist other authorities to recover as much of the players’ funds as possible.

‘In addition, the Commission is already in advanced stages of implementing a new approach towards the protection of player funds on a risk-assessed basis.’

It’s unclear if the report will appease the poker community (Dean was after all hired by the AGCC to conduct an investigation into the AGCC’s role in the failure of Full Tilt Poker) and you can be certain that many smart people in the poker world will be poring over the 12-page report with a fine-toothed comb, and developing follow-up questions to ask of Mr. Dean, and looking at the sources and interviews Dean spoke with.

Here is the link to the complete 12-page report on the AGCC website

Here is the link to the Press Release issued by the AGCC