Absolute Poker and UB to Sell Assets to Pay Back Players

Since the Black Friday indictments were revealed on April 15th of this year, very little has been heard from either Absolute Poker or UB.  Payouts for players outside of the United States slowed and ultimately stopped.  The site has lost 99 percent of their traffic and averages about 23 players per day.  Finally, after months of speculation, some information has been finally released regarding the status of Absolute Poker and UB.

On Wednesday, PoketFives.com published the following statement from an Absolute Poker regarding their inquiry to the site regarding the status of player paybacks:

“As previously stated, the distribution of funds to our U.S.players remains our highest priority. However, we are still in discussions with the DOJ in order to facilitate player payments and, consequently, can make no further comments at this time. We will provide an update at the appropriate time.”

Two days later, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission released the following statement:

“Since the actions taken by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (the “SDNY”) onApril 15, 2011, the Commission has been in close and regular discussions with its licensee, Blanca Games Inc. (“Blanca”), operating as Absolute Poker and UB.com (“AP/UB”), to facilitate the reimbursement of both US and non-US players. The Commission has also received regular updates of discussions between AP/UB and the SDNY.

Over the past several weeks, we were advised of a potential solution prepared by Blanca and its representatives, establishing a process to liquidate Blanca’s assets and distribute proceeds to players. We understand that this process has been presented to SDNY for consideration and approval.

The Commission’s foremost concern in this matter has been, and remains, the reimbursement of both US and non-US players, as quickly and completely as possible.

To avoid further prejudice to affected players, the Commission has demanded that all parties complete their discussions and implement a reimbursement solution without further delay.”

While the statement directly from Absolute Poker revealed little, the KGC statement does reveal that Blanca Games plans to sell off assets to pay players back worldwide.  What this further means is that at some point, the few players remaining on the site can expect the site to shut down operations altogether.

As to the KGC’s demand for a quick resolutions, that seems a bit premature and irresponsible as the best interests of players worldwide are served by Blanca Games and the DOJ reaching a final resolution that put an end to the matter.  Rush the matter may not be in players best interest.

This is likely the beginning of the end for the embattled sites.  The public mistrust of the company stemming back to the Superuser scandal coupled with the events since Black Friday will likely make resurrecting the site impossible.

Granted, there haven’t been any reports directly from Blanca regarding any asset sales, so until such, the information should be treated as rumor.  Once more information on the matter is available, we will release it.