Genting Poker steals Hendon Mob players' money

Genting (the same crooks who are trying to stiff Phil Ivey) announced on Friday that all Hendon Mob players 'sponsorship dollars' are now cancelled. These were just equivalent to FPPs. You couldn't cash them out directly but could use them for tournament buyins etc. As an extra kick in the nuts HM players were excluded from earning points in a parallel scheme (which they're now part of, starting at zero) on the grounds they were in this one!

Most amounts are relatively small in the £100 range but I've seen several players losing 4-figure sums and no doubt more will come to light. The Hendon Mob are four British players who run a successful website and have been a skin for several sites. They've already responded on their site that they weren't informed of this in advance and are obviously very unhappy.

Full details here: http://www.thehendonmob.com/forum/vi...er=asc&start=0

I thought this was someone making a fake Genting account on the Hendon Mob when I first read this but it now seems legit, how the hell can they expect to make a shitty move like this and expect to come away with their reputation unscathed? The dumbness of it is just breathtaking, it's stealing plain and simple.

Genting have been making a big play in the UK brick and mortar poker market, but dropped the ball with closing the popular Fox Poker Club in London at very short notice (to turn it into a table games casino).

This latest shitty move looks like a slap in the chops for the Hendon Mob (again well respected). I think their association may end if this is not sorted out to everyone's satisfaction.

This is more than a kick in the nuts.

This is straight-up stealing. It is somewhat surprising to see such a large company behaving in such a fashion. You would expect this behavior from a crappy skin or tiny network. For those of you unfamiliar with Genting, here is a Wiki page about them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genting_Group

They also own Crockford's, which is embroiled in that now-infamous lawsuit with Phil Ivey. (I see that has already been mentioned earlier in the thread.)

FPPs or similar are real assets with real value, even if they are not directly equivalent to cash. They are earned and are always some percentage of rake you paid these sites with real dollars.

This is where they differ from other sorts of promotions and loyalty programs.

For example, let's say I frequent a small sandwich shop down the street, and after a year of doing so, the owner gives me a card saying "TWO FREE SANDWICHES", and tells me that he's giving them to me just because he appreciates my loyal business. I hold onto the card and don't use it for 3 months, during which time the guy converts his sandwich place into a pizza place. When I ask him to give me the equivalent value in pizza, he refuses, telling me it's a different restaurant and that he can no longer afford to give out anything free. While this would be shitty, it would be legal, and you could argue that he doesn't really OWE me anything, as he gave me those two sandwiches as a gift and was simply taking the gift back before I redeemed it.

In this case, Genting definitely OWES these players, as it could be successfully argued that many players spent money (rake) at Genting's online poker site with the expectation that a certain percentage would be returned through these "promotional dollars". Therefore, they have real value, and they were generated by real money paid by these same customers. Taking them away would be as bad as retroactively stealing cash out of players' accounts on sites that give rakeback, with the rationale, "We decided that we don't want to give rakeback, so we're taking away every dollar we ever gave you in rakeback in the past."

FPPs/Promotional Dollars/whatever are all a form of rakeback, and should be treated similarly to cash -- at least as far as the expectation to provide their stated value and never take them away.

This is also why I have an issue with the way Stars handled their FPP redemption process for Americans (even though their handling of Black Friday was VASTLY superior to Full Tilt and UB, obviously).

After a huge outcry and, in reality, probably due to the Hendon Mobsters themselves complaining, Genting have backed down and are now claiming it was all a misunderstanding. It wasn't - the functionality to spend sponsorship dollars was disabled at the same time the email went out. However there's still an unresolved issue for those with less than $100 being unable to cash them in as the minimum spend is $100. Most players are now just going to withdraw their money and boycott the site in disgust. They obviously cannot be trusted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShawnFanningsLimpDick

After a huge outcry and, in reality, probably due to the Hendon Mobsters themselves complaining, Genting have backed down and are now claiming it was all a misunderstanding. It wasn't - the functionality to spend sponsorship dollars was disabled at the same time the email went out. However there's still an unresolved issue for those with less than $100 being unable to cash them in as the minimum spend is $100. Most players are now just going to withdraw their money and boycott the site in disgust. They obviously cannot be trusted.

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Yea Right ,Always a "misunderstanding" when the prats get caught isnt it.If had not been HendonMob just a loose group they would have been screwed right over.And as for those with less than $100 the right and easy fix is for Genting to top their accounts up to $100 ,Lets face it they would get most back in rake at least seeing as it gets used to buy tickets in tournys anyway right ? Hope this cost Genting a packet when are these pricks going to start treating their customers with a bit of respect ! I only play on one site now that I trust 100% the rest seem to have more angles that a crack ho gambling addict !