From the details supplied to me by Mr David Davis, Director of Commercial Operations - London, following a so called investigation, I am led to believe that Gentings have not acted appropriately. As such I shall be submitting evidence to the police within the next week with allegations of theft and fraud.

As relayed to me by Mr Davis, of the £48k taken from players 'in error' only £34k has actually been repaid and a further £8k has 'gone missing' but has not be noticed in the investigation, despite being overseen by Mike Hoskins Managing Director of Security and Compliance and Mr Davis. Of the same amount agreed to be paid to dealers who worked the event I believe that approximately £14k has been paid out legitimately. Having spoken to both agency dealers and Genting dealers there seems to be a chasm of disparity between statements made by Mr Davis and evidential truth.

I have also been made aware that Mr Simon Thomsett attempted to investigate myself in an attempt to discredit my position, hardly the actions of a company 'wishing to do the right thing'.

I believe there is now sufficient evidence to put to the police for theft and fraud and to advise Inland Revenue to conduct their own investigations into the matter.

You can make your own conclusion as to how certain companies in this industry view players loose attitude to their money once the authorities have looked into the matter.

May I also take this opportunity to advise you that despite there being a clear and admitted 'error' in favour of Gentings of at least £48k, Mr Thomsett failed to inform the appropriate managers (as confirmed in writing by Mr Davis) and instead attempted to argue and defend it on a public forum. This is a clear breach of compliance. Whether this breach has been reported, as required by their licence, in Gentings 3 monthly reports to the Gambling Commission is yet to be seen. As far as I am aware, Mr Thomsett is still deemed honest and professional enough to remain as Poker Manager.

Mr Thomsett retaining his position whilst seemingly jeopardising Gentings reputation, failing to comply with internal procedures, breaching Gambling Commission licensing requirements and possibly breaking the law, is a much clearer indication of the position taken by Gentings over this matter.

The poker industry still operates in grey areas and there seems to be an increase recently in disputes of a similar nature as in the case of The Empire casinos Bad Beat Jackpot and in other areas such as the current Betfair incident.

If you don't wish to be the mug in a mugging, then less complacency and more diligence will help us all to ensure integrity within the game we all love.

'The devil triumphs when good people do nothing'

Gotta say, despite the mistakes made, when all said and done, you gotta be impressed with the conclusion to this saga.
It seems Genting are making a real effort to get a foothold in the poker market and events like the Players Championship with 10K added and their online offers have certainly got my attention.

I was actually lucky enough to be sponsored into the WPT event in question and gotta say it was the most amazing structure ive ever played in and the organisation and atmosphere at the Palm Beach was excellent imo.

Monies have been paid out this week, but the details of how much and how it has been calculated, both for the players and dealers tells a very different story than the one above.
This saga is not concluded and in fact has revealed far more serious breaches higher up the food chain and possibly revealed further monies that seem to have been taken from the players with no justification and no advertising.

I will post a full report at a future date which will show exactly how this matter has been dealt with so players and dealers can decide for themselves.

UPDATE!

I have spoken again today with Gentings with regards to the payments being issued. They are trying to sort out some accounting procedures and expect to notify everyone in writing by Friday as to how payments can be received. It is merely an administrative delay and Gentings are still very eager to ensure the matter is fully concluded as soon as possible.

As an aside, whilst Gentings have acted with the utmost integrity and professionalism, it has been brought to my attention that certain other individuals did try to slander me and undermine my character and previous professional conduct. Evidently this failed, but has been noted.


I shall post any further updates should they arise.

Best wishes all

 

I was on the bus with Phil Helmuth and all I can say is that it was all tongue-in-cheek cheesy fun...and he was loving it.

You'll miss it when it's gone...back to boring poker players being boring.

Rest assured this matter is far from going away.

It seems the WPT have stated they had nothing to do with the money and that they only had one representative at the event. They clearly state the running of the tournament was the responsibility of the Palm Beach Casino and therefore Mr Tomsett.

The issues are very clear, either the money was taken for the poker room staff or it wasn't. The asterisk issue is a mute point, being that the 2 asterisks for the main event have been incorporated into the 3 asterisks as 4% was clearly taken from the prizepool in both tournaments.

So it's either theft or fraud. Either it's owed to the floor staff or owed to the players. The Gambling Commission are eager to launch an investigation as they have already been contacted by other involved parties and they clearly stated to me further issues they are concerned with.

Obviously most poker players will take the fact they've been mugged for £200 on the chin, the money probably doesn't matter too much to them, which is why they probably got mugged in the first place. The fact that this sends out the message that affluent poker players are easy targets for small scams or that people, companies and casinos can easily nip them whenever possible shouldn't be of any concern then.

Fortunately, the small claims court makes it very easy for people to contest small amounts and allows a public audience to the conduct of larger companies.

From my perspective, having already been denied work by Simon Tomsett for merely politely enquiring about the matter, I see no reason why I shouldn't make a claim. I haven't nothing to risk and have been advised that I have a strong case. Why a company or an individual would think that it's low paid workers are less inclined to expect fair treatment or less inclined to seek legal recourse to disputed monies is a mystery. They are exactly the people who will fight hardest for monies that others feel is inconsequential and are more concerned about who takes their hard earned money away from them.

Mr Tomsett can be rest assured that once the threatening and posturing ceases, then the real problems will start.

As for looking silly? Well, not half as silly as letting someone lift £200 out of my pocket whilst I say 'Yeah sure help yourself'.



 

Easiest way to deal with this is a simple small claims court action and Mr Tomsett can stand in court with the evidence (and yes it will be you standing alone in court)

[...]

Simon Tomsett has clearly identified himself as being fully responsible on behalf of The Palm Beach as its' Poker Manager, so this action does not involve Prestige People or Fox's.

Hope your dealing is better than your understanding of contract law.

Doesn't need to be, as an entertainment company, my solicitor deals exclusively with the entertainment business and all that involves in relation to complex payment schedules. I'm not just a dealer as those involved in this will soon learn to their detriment.

If you're not involved I would keep your trite and incorrect comments to yourself, unless you have a vested interest in protecting those breaking the law or have all the facts, to which I would ask how you obtained them.

 Main Event £300 fee + 4% prize fund deduction. At no time has there been any attempt to hide this fact. Intervention by the police would be most welcome. The Gambling Commission have been contacted in this matter.

Well that's good to hear. Seems he wants the police to look into it, so there must be something dodgy going on. So what is your definition of 'Poker Room Staff'?

Easiest way to deal with this is a simple small claims court action and Mr Tomsett can stand in court with the evidence (and yes it will be you standing alone in court) then we can see which newspaper would like the article headline 'Top Posh Casino in £35k tip scandal!.

The Gambling Commission is interested and are urging anyone to come forward with details so that they can correlate the complaints and launch a full investigation. They will take action prior or subsequent to any court action so a small claims will not effect them investigating. They did seem to be aware of some serious aspects to this case that I highlighted, which they would like to look into further.

If you are a dealer or a player who would like further advice on how to structure the small claims application then please PM me.

Simon Tomsett has clearly identified himself as being fully responsible on behalf of The Palm Beach as its' Poker Manager, so this action does not involve Prestige People or Fox's. If you work with either of these companies you are still able to take direct action without implicating either of these companies who supplied staff in good faith.

Subject to evidence supplied at the small claims court police involvement will follow.

My press contacts have stated they will take an active interest as soon as the first application is made at the courts.

It seems to me that both the WPT, who I have left telephone messages with, and Simon Tomsett are both determined to bring the Palm Beach and the WPT into disrepute over this matter. I only hope that Genting is reassessing the wisdom of employing Mr Tomsett and the potential damage that he seems to be determined to wreak.

I'm willing to wait a short while, but I'm not depending on the vagaries of internet networking to settle a legal situation. I freelance my services through my limited company, and if the situation remains as it is, then I shall pursue the case in the same manner as I would with any other work related payments.

I was also scheduled for other work at Palm Beach, and had been for over 4 weeks prior meaning I have turned down other work for the scheduled period, and that job doesn't seem to have been honoured due to the matter, so it is even more important now that this is resolved.

As one of the dealers who has become aware of this from reading the OP, I contacted Simon Thompsett, who seemed very reluctant to take this matter seriously.

I have since spoken to other dealers about this and some have taken the opinion, on advice, that this may actually be a police matter.

Whilst I think it is too early for this, if the matter is not addressed correctly I think I may agree with other dissenters, as it seems Palm Beach have not invited dealers back further infuriating the matter in attempt to cover themselves.

Maybe I could take this chance to remind Mr Thompsett of the old saying 'The webs we weave when first we wish to deceive.'