Tribeca Tables has withdrawn from the US market

AdamSelene · Nov 10, 2006

<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" height="291" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Posted: 10/11/2006 [/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] TRIBECA NEWS ALERT [/FONT]</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Tribeca Tables has withdrawn from the US market, it said in a statement this evening. [/FONT]</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] The decision comes after Tribeca held lengthy discussions with its attorneys about the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The company will now focus on non-US markets.

Erik Ahlberg, newly-appointed president of Tribeca Tables, said: “We are now initiating this policy and will work closely with our customers to ensure as little harm as possible to their overall business.”

European managing director Steve Cook added that the company and its board had “taken a considerable amount of time to weigh up all the options and sought a great deal of legal and market advice. Sadly we have no alternative. We have concluded that it is the best way forward for the company.”

Tribeca’s two largest US-facing licencees are Doyle’s Room and Golden Palace. According to internet press reports Golden Palace has also decided to refuse taking casino bets from the US.

Tribeca said it would also not be taking bets from Israel and Hong Kong players and will make further announcements about its network in due course. [/FONT]</td></tr></tbody></table>

bakinbaconwithMacon · Nov 10, 2006

How can Doyle's room not have American players? That's a slap in the face to Doyle Brunson.

AdamSelene · Nov 10, 2006

Rumor that Doyle's Room will be leaving Tribeca, announcement forthcoming.

(from 2+2 forums based on response from Doyle's room customer support)

stef · Nov 10, 2006

Received an notification from Doyles room that since I am in Washington state they will not take my action. No big deal, have pretty much lost interest in poker anyway. And if I do get interested again have poker rooms all over place in Washington State. Guess this is what the legislature wanted.

AdamSelene · Nov 10, 2006

stef said:
Received an notification from Doyles room that since I am in Washington state they will not take my action. No big deal, have pretty much lost interest in poker anyway. And if I do get interested again have poker rooms all over place in Washington State. Guess this is what the legislature wanted.

You received that notice today?

stef · Nov 10, 2006

Yesterday or the day before, not sure.

AdamSelene · Nov 10, 2006

stef said:
Yesterday or the day before, not sure.

Doyle's Room's decision to block residents of Washington state and Louisiana appears unrelated to Tribeca's announcement today to withdraw from the U.S. market.

rancher · Nov 10, 2006

thx for the info

azg04 · Nov 10, 2006

Ya'll should start looking for a new place that will accept the US cust.

TheWatchdog · Nov 10, 2006

http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/article.cfm?contentID=162440

This is the most decent article I have read about the rumor, never the less I chated yesterday with Doyle's support, and they said no.

However their CS has never been decent, probably the nightshifter wasn't aware of it.

I try contacting Golden Palace, but their CS blows as well

AdamSelene · Nov 11, 2006

It's hard to believe Tribeca would even "leak" something like this on a Friday evening (U.K. time). Although it's also hard to believe eGaming Review (also based in the U.K.) would issue an alert on a story without confirming it.

The CasinoCity article is nearly identical to the eGaming Review alert.

http://www.egrmagazine.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?section=3&id=1584&action=display

TheWatchdog · Nov 11, 2006

I received that one,

However you must be affiliated to them in order to read it... I'll copy it in a sec.

TheWatchdog · Nov 11, 2006

<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" height="291" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] TRIBECA NEWS ALERT [/FONT]</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Tribeca Tables has withdrawn from the US market, it said in a statement this evening. [/FONT]</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] The decision comes after Tribeca held lengthy discussions with its attorneys about the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The company will now focus on non-US markets.

Erik Ahlberg, newly-appointed president of Tribeca Tables, said: “We are now initiating this policy and will work closely with our customers to ensure as little harm as possible to their overall business.”

European managing director Steve Cook added that the company and its board had “taken a considerable amount of time to weigh up all the options and sought a great deal of legal and market advice. Sadly we have no alternative. We have concluded that it is the best way forward for the company.”

Tribeca’s two largest US-facing licencees are Doyle’s Room and Golden Palace. According to internet press reports Golden Palace has also decided to refuse taking casino bets from the US.

Tribeca said it would also not be taking bets from Israel and Hong Kong players and will make further announcements about its network in due course. [/FONT]</td></tr></tbody></table>

AdamSelene · Nov 11, 2006

web page

Despite Tribeca Network issuing a statement Friday that it would be pulling out of the US market, Gambling911.com endorsed Doyles Room (see poker room here) will continue to serve the US market.

Following a long period of consultation with it’s gaming attorneys, Tribeca Tables Europe, Limited, the online poker solutions company, has announced that the company has decided to withdraw it’s poker room from certain territories; specifically the US, Israel, and Hong Kong markets.

Doyles Room is one of Tribeca's largest poker room clients. Other rooms served by Tribeca with a large US presence include Golden Palace Poker and BetUS Poker, both of which are expected to continue taking on customers from the States.

"Tribeca is giving its US facing clients 6 months to find another poker network," a source told Gambling911.com late Friday.

While Doyles Room has plenty of time to contemplate its next move, some insiders suggest the poker room may purchase Tribeca's US facing network similar to what we witnessed with Sportingbet and Sportsbook.com.

"There are several options on the table," said our source.

Doyles Room has become a major poker site contributing to Tribeca's current Top 10 ranking. The site offers some of the largest tournament prizes and bonuses on the web today while allowing poker players to go up against special celebrity guest players such as Nicky Hilton and Doyle Brunson himself.

Just this week, Pamela Anderson announced her poker site (a partnership with Doyles Room) would be closing down.

AdamSelene · Nov 11, 2006

Story now confirmed, Tribeca was a bit slow updating their press release page.

http://www.tribecatables.com/tribeca_us_market_withdrawal.html
============================
London, November 10th - Following a long period of consultation with it's gaming attorneys, Tribeca Tables Europe, Limited, the online poker solutions company, has announced that the company has decided to withdraw it's poker room from certain territories; specifically the US, Israel, and Hong Kong markets.

In light of the recent introduction in the US regarding the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006" and in line with most other responsible networks and poker operators, the company will focus on more non US territories and new markets. Tribeca will endeavour to assist it's US facing clients in particular with the transition as much as possible. Players do not need to worry as the transition will take several months to implement.

Erik Ahlberg, new President of Tribeca Tables said, "We are now initiating this policy and will work closely with our customers to ensure as little harm as possible to their overall business".

Steve Cook, European managing director added, "The board have taken a considerable amount of time to weigh up all of the options and sought a great deal of legal and market advice. We had agonized over the decision for several weeks, but sadly we have no alternative. We have concluded that it is the best way forward for the company".

Tribeca's portfolio of brands still includes many European facing brands such as Sporting Index, Paddy Power, Blue Sq, Victor Chandler, and with the recent merger with Tain, the addition of Expekt.com and its other skins.

The company also intends to make a further announcement regarding its poker network in due course. For further information please contact: moreinfo@TribecaTables.com

bmconsultants · Nov 13, 2006

bakinbaconwithMacon said:
How can Doyle's room not have American players? That's a slap in the face to Doyle Brunson.

Doyle is not gong to take it lying down, I expect him to buy the US facing network - he has six months before they shut down.

Tribeca have sold out to Playtech and are migrating it all to the iPoker software (from their press release):

"Following Tribeca's decision to block certain territories, including the US, the
entire Tribeca network will cease its operations in six months from the date of
the agreement, by which time the migration of the online poker operators to
Playtech's platform is planned to be complete.

Playtech expects that synergies between the two companies will lead to
significant savings in respect of the additional costs involved in supporting
the migrated licensees. Additionally, the Company expects higher revenues to be
generated by the increased player liquidity, as well as the introduction of
Playtech's casino games to the migrated licensees."

"Playtech has announced the acquisition of the Tribeca Tables poker operation for an initial consideration of US$75m (£39m) with a total consideration of US$139m should Tribeca reach earn-out targets over the next year.

"Playtech hailed the “landmark deal” adding it transformed Playtech into the “world’s leading poker network that excludes US players”.

Go Doyle, go!

AdamSelene · Nov 13, 2006

bmconsultants said:
Doyle is not gong to take it lying down, I expect him to buy the US facing network - he has six months before they shut down.

Tribeca have sold out to Playtech and are migrating it all to the iPoker software (from their press release):

Go Doyle, go!

Doyle's already owns its own network, they just need to find software or buy Tribeca's.

AdamSelene · Nov 13, 2006

[SIZE=-1]Doyle Brunson Poker Network[/SIZE]
http://www.dbpn.com/network/

Has four brands (well three since Pamela left) and 25 members.

Other Tribeca licensees (e.g. BetUS Poker) have their own option to find a new provider/network.

So basically the Tribeca sale to Playtech was their more recent European business; given Doyle and BetUS will most definitely leave.

<< Tribeca's portfolio of brands still includes many European facing brands such as Sporting Index, Paddy Power, Blue Sq, Victor Chandler, and with the recent merger with Tain, the addition of Expekt.com and its other skins. >>

AdamSelene · Nov 13, 2006

http://www.egrmagazine.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?action=display&id=1586&section=3&keyword=<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" height="291" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

News
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Posted: 13/11/2006 [/FONT] </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] PLAYTECH NEWS ALERT
[/FONT]</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Playtech has bought the European-facing part of poker network and platform operator Tribeca Tables Europe for a sum that could rise to US139m (£73m). [/FONT]</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] The sale of the European-facing operations of Tribeca sees the poker operations of licensees such as Victor Chandler, Paddy Power Poker and Blue Square move to the Playtech platform.

The deal is subject to conditions, which it is believed include the licensees continuing with Tribeca.

Greg Harris, analyst at Cannacord, said: “It is not the cheapest deal, but strategically it is very good, depending on what the licensees decide."

Under the terms of the deal, the owners of Tribeca Tables will receive US$75m, with a final consideration that rises to US$139m should the revenue generated from the acquisition exceed US$29m.

Days before the deal, Tribeca announced it was closing its US-facing business. It also recently announced a merger with the Tain network, which has Expekt as its main customer.

In the 12 months to the beginning of December 2005, Tribeca Tables Europe turned over US$6.2m and gross profits of US$5.3m. In the past three months the company has generated a turnover of US$3.9m and gorses profits of US$3.4m.

Avigur Zmora, chief executive of Playtech, hailed the deal as being a “landmark” for Playtech. “On the back of the US issue, everybody started looking at how they could turn a crisis into an opportunity. This was a very easy deal to negotiate.”

In terms of the licensees, Zmora added they were buying into “pretty long contracts”. He added that Playtech had been negotiating with the Tribeca licensees for weeks before the deal was announced.

Zmora added that the opportunity with Tribeca was a matter of “liquidity”, adding that he thought there would be more merger and acquisition opportunities ahead.

It is not known what the US-facing licensees will do next, though it has been confirmed that operators such as DoylesRoom, Golden Palace and USBet were not part of the deal.[/FONT]</td></tr></tbody></table>