AGCC Hearing Scheduled Regarding Full Tilt License

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission has announced that a public hearing regarding Full Tilt's license will be held on May 3rd. To fully understand what this means, we spoke to an AGCC spokesman and looked into AGCC regulations.

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), a regulatory authority which licensed Full Tilt Poker while it was still operational, has just announced that a public hearing regarding Orinic Limited's application for a Category 2 eGambling License will take place on May 3rd.

Orinic Limited is a Full Tilt subsidiary which in the past held an active license with the AGCC. Its license was suspended in late September, alongside the AGCC's revocation of Full Tilt's other licenses. On March 23rd, Orinic applied for a new Category 2 eGambling License.

Why is this hearing taking place?

To fully understand why this hearing is taking place, it is necessary to look at Regulation 23 of the Alderney eGambling Regulations, 2009.

Regulation 23 states that whenever anyone submits an official opinion regarding a new applicant to the AGCC, "a duly authorised officer of the Commission shall enquire of the person making the representation whether he wishes to make oral representations at a hearing before the Commissioners or whether he is content for the Commissioners to take into account his objection."

In this case, someone must have elected to make oral representations at a hearing.

A spokesman for AGCC explained to PokerStrategy.com that this type of hearing "doesn't necessarily mean that an objection to an applicant has been submitted - any 3rd party representation or opinion about an application will be considered. The purpose of the hearing is for the Commission to receive such opinions."

How does it work?

The rules for a hearing, as expressed in Section 3 of Regulation 23, are as follows:

(a) the person raising the objection shall make his representations and the applicant shall respond;

(b) a duly authorised officer of the Commission shall be entitled to ask questions of either person;

(c) the parties and the duly authorised officer may appear in person or through any representative; and

(d) the Commissioners may ask questions of any party present at the hearing.

On the topic of who will attend the hearings, the spokesman added, "We won't have full information on whether or not the parties who express these opinions will attend the hearing until just before the hearing actually takes place. If those parties are not there in person, it is still the role of the Commission to take into account the opinions expressed by the public in determining the suitability of an applicant."

PokerStrategy.com will continue to report on this and all other stories related to Full Tilt Poker.

by Matt Kaufman