IMPORTANT - Changes at the blonde Cardroom.

[tikay]

First, a quick recap of where we were.

As you know, one of our winning players had his Account closed, & that was compounded by Aqua's initial refusal to allow him to withdraw, as it would bring us in breach of the somewhat extraordinary Deposit/Withdrawal Ratios, & we would be facing massive fines far beyond our means.

Subsequently, Aqua & i-Poker agreed, after pressure from us via Rich, & in the light of their sudden Notice of Termination of our License, to allow all & any Withdrawals to proceed uninhibited, & without Fines. As far as I'm aware, he withdrew all of his cash the following day, without problem. It was a very large 5 figure sum.

Slightly later, another very large blonde player, who had, I think, a figure on Deposit at or close to 6 figures, was also having his Withdrawals restricted to x dollars per day. That problem was also resolved by the Aqua.i-Poker decision (it was sanctioned by i-Poker). I'm not clear if he withdrew everything, but he was free so to do.

 

[tikay]

Meanwhile, due to unimaginably large Chargerbacks (fraudulent Credit Card transactions) from Aqua in October - $17,000 I think - we owed Aqua that money, the unpaid portion of which we agreed with them would be deducted from our due income (the money blonde earn from the Cardroom) during the remaining two or 3 months of our License.

This was OK, as we could repay that from the forward income, as long as players continued to play on blonde.

All the Loyalty Payments to our players for November - some $5,700 I believe - were paid in full.
 
Our current debt to Aqua is just under £7,000, which arose as a result of the Chargebacks in October & November, after deduction of income due to us. Rich explained it to us like this....

".....We owe them $11,353 or £6,845 at current exchange rates
 
Net revenue to us last month was $7,589 Pre Loyalty bonus of $5,722 and Cytech commission of $2,000. ie a very small shortfall which meant we could not reduce the deficit
 
We have full two months of the card-room to go
 
Clearly two months of $5,722 would solve the problem but in reality both gross rake and loyalty bonus amounts will be smaller once this is announced. However it will clear off some of the deficit. and a £7k problem will be a smaller one...."

On Saturday just gone, (December 12th) we received our November Statement of Account from Aqua.

Once again, we got Chargebacks, this time in excess of $3,500. (Rich - confirm the figure, & $ or £ please).

So we earned no net income at all, & had not still not paid off all of the previous month's chargeback "carryover".

With the Statement, came a letter.......

[tikay]

The incoming letter said......

Hi Rich

Please find attached the November statement

Once again the month resulted in a negative position after all deductions excluding the negative balance carried forward.

Rich, with what has transpired with iPoker and the resulting decision made in relation to the poker offering, I am now in a predicament on this negative balance

I need this balance recovered and cannot be in a position whereby I am funding the business.  I am open to suggestions on how to resolve this however, if the situation does not rectify I will have no choice but to:

1.      Disallow all month end loyalty credits

2.      Hold player cashins to recover the amount of the deficit – this does not mean all cashins only an amount ensuring the shortfall is recovered

Please can we discuss this as I do not wish to implement drastic action however, I do not see a solution based on current operations

So, Rich, James, Kev & myself discussed this, & then Rich reluctantly wrote back to Aqua as follows.....

[tikay]

Rich's note to Aqua on Saturday said......

Trevor
 
I have discussed the situation with my colleagues.
 
In the circumstances we think we should, as you suggest, cancel Month End loyalty credits for December and January, and part February til termination, and put those sums in full towards clearing the negative balance.
 
In November the amount of loyalty credit was over $5,700 and whilst we would expect it to be lower in December, especially as we will now have to announce this to our players, the December and January payments should help markedly, when added to a positive net revenue result due to us with negligible chargebacks from here, in eliminating the deficit. For our part we will speak personally to all the bigger players explaining the situation to them and encouraging them to continue to play.
 
As you will understand we would find it completely unacceptable to Hold in Player withdrawals and apply these sums to the deficit. Not only would it have a catastrophic effect on our business going forward via reputational damage, and by extension to yourselves, but player balances are completely seperate to the issue of chargebacks which has caused this deficit. No matter any other issue, Player deposits, balances and withdrawals have to be ring-fenced and cannot be applied to settle a deficit in our arrangements. To do so would cause uproar, quite rightly.

We intend to announce the cancellation in Monthly loyalty payments to our players on Monday and trust the above is acceptable to you, and we can review progress this time next month.

[tikay]

At time of Posting this, we have yet to be favoured with a reply to Rich's latest letter (above).

So there it is - we can't see any way out of this but to accept their proposals to terminate Loyalty Bonus Pyments effective 1st December. We don't exactly feel good about this, we are incredibly sorry, but we hope you can see the spot we are in.

And just to compound everything, if the Players stop playing on blonde, we shall be stuck in the near-term for £7k, & Aqua may try to use all or some of that to offest our liability to them for the Chargebacks. We are confident we can clear the debt in due course, given the variety of interested parties in negotiation with us going forward.

James & Kev will be contacting our bigger Players this afternoon & this evening to prevail upon them, if possible, to play on blonde until Termination of our License.

Jeez, what a nightmare this all is.

All questions will be answered fully, fire away.

[tikay]

PS - But we did receive this today from Aqua.

Hello!
 
I just want to add that as we are having our Company Party on Friday the 18th of December, there will be limited Staffing on that day.

Kev wished them a Merry Christmas.
 

[AndrewT]

2.      Hold player cashins to recover the amount of the deficit – this does not mean all cashins only an amount ensuring the shortfall is recovered

I am staggered, just staggered by this.

An admittance, in writing, that confiscating players' money to recover debt incurred by the cardroom is a suggested possible course of action by them.

You honestly could not make it up.

[tikay]

2.      Hold player cashins to recover the amount of the deficit – this does not mean all cashins only an amount ensuring the shortfall is recovered

I am staggered, just staggered by this.

An admittance, in writing, that confiscating players' money to recover debt incurred by the cardroom is a suggested possible course of action by them.

You honestly could not make it up.

I'm afraid you could not.

Legally, I'm certain it's wrong - but they operate under Belize Law, & in any event, the notion of "what we have we hold" applies very much in monetary disputes. They have the cash in their Bank, so their position is immensely powerful, no matter how stroppy we get.

Players money is always safe when ring-fenced? Seemingly not.

It has to be said we DO owe them £7k - but that's a matter between them & us. We will settle it somehow. The Players money has nothing to do with that whatoever, & it's an immoral & illegal position to take imo.

[outragous76]

I am confused:

1. Did Aqua change the terms of the contract unfairly - to create this new situation.
2. Tikay - you previously said that you wouldnt put the trading company in administration, for reasons of personal integrity - why not? if they are playing a game to suit themselves to the detriment of others?
3. Surely they cant prevent withdrawals? that must be against T&C's  - We have a contract with Blonde, you have a contract with Aqua - these two are separate right?

I appreciate that there are a complex number of siuations which run simultaniously here - but if Blonde ltd (or whatever) - became blonde 2 ltd moving forward (and any potential suitor knew or your intention) then I dont see how your repuation is damaged against rouges like the shower of sh1t you appear to be dealing with?

[EvilPie]

So where does this leave the players? I haven't got any money in there myself but I do have some invested as a staker.

Do I tell him to keep playing or just take it out and move it across to another card room?

It isn't a great amount at the moment and I could live with losing it but if he binks something it could become considerably more.

I sincerely hope that once all this is over and blonde are away from this farce of a network that you expose all this shit to as many forums and media types as you possibly can.

[TightEnd]

I can only re-emphasise the current situation

IPoker have agreed that players can withdraw unfettered, with no fine consquences to blonde Poker, up to date of termination.

I have refused Aqua's suggestion, as you can see above, to countenance player balances being used to settle the deficit we have on chargebacks we are liable for.

I'm realistic, I need players to play with us so we can earn some money until we have a new arrangement finalised, but can't blame anyone if they don't given the circumstances

[tikay]

I am confused:

1. Did Aqua change the terms of the contract unfairly - to create this new situation.
2. Tikay - you previously said that you wouldnt put the trading company in administration, for reasons of personal integrity - why not? if they are playing a game to suit themselves to the detriment of others?
3. Surely they cant prevent withdrawals? that must be against T&C's  - We have a contract with Blonde, you have a contract with Aqua - these two are separate right?

I appreciate that there are a complex number of siuations which run simultaniously here - but if Blonde ltd (or whatever) - became blonde 2 ltd moving forward (and any potential suitor knew or your intention) then I dont see how your repuation is damaged against rouges like the shower of sh1t you appear to be dealing with?

Q1. No Contract Clauses have been changed or amended to the best of our knowledge. The action appears to be unilateral. But we can't force them to pay monies. They have, are & will continuing to process withdrawls normally. They just want to secure £7,000, but our Players have a very much larger sum than that on Deposit, & I don't see it as in any way endangered.

Q2. What would that achieve? - based on their letter, they would refuse to pay the last £7,000 to our Players if we do not settle the £7,000 to them. We have no intentions of not paying.

Q3 - Yes, they are entirely seperate Contracts. There is something called "right of set-off", but I doubt that applies here. Anyway, what do we know about Belize Law?

I am less concerned with my "reputation" than previously to be honest, I just wanna get out of this bloody mess & move on, it's a big black cloud on my & my colleagues lives right now. We must get everyone paid up in full, & move on. "Reputation" will have to take care of itself.

It's a horrible situation, & I'm not sure how we could have seen it coming when the deal was signed 4 or 5 years back.

[Ironside]

It's a horrible situation, & I'm not sure how we could have seen it coming when the deal was signed 4 or 5 years back.

and before anyone asks no i didnt write the contract

[tikay]

So where does this leave the players? I haven't got any money in there myself but I do have some invested as a staker.

Do I tell him to keep playing or just take it out and move it across to another card room?

It isn't a great amount at the moment and I could live with losing it but if he binks something it could become considerably more.

I sincerely hope that once all this is over and blonde are away from this farce of a network that you expose all this shit to as many forums and media types as you possibly can.

The whole industry (well, Europe anyway) is monitoring the Thread, news dissemination will take care of itself. We are not trying to damage anyone's name, or painting any pictures. We are telling our Clients "how it is", & doing so honestly & fully.

The truth can walk around naked.

[turny]

disgraceful letter from aqua to even consider witholding players accounts!


just a thought but surely the shareholders of blonde are liable for the £7k deficit? stopping loyalty payments for players who could quite easily get as good or if not better deal on other sites and expect them to continue to play with no loyalty (rakeback) for 2 months to help clear blonde ltd from debt is not as bad as aqua's behavior but still isnt right.

if my business is in trouble or anyone else for that matter we dont pass on the hardship to our customers and go back on promised incentive schemes in order to clear our debt, we dip into out pocket or go begging to the bank to do so.

asking customers to bail you out is a dangerous game and could be damaging to any future plans. customer loyalty only stretches so far.

blonde is owned by some fairly wealthy guys. £7k is a drop in the ocean to them, its their company, they will reap the rewards if/when they decide to sell there shares so i think its their responsibility to pay whats owed to aqua and move on.

i do hope this mess is sorted soon and that rich and kevs jobs are secured as soon as possible and blonde has a cardroom that all can enjoy playing on again without worry.