The chief marketing officer of Full Tilt Poker’s Dublin-based affiliated company Pocket Kings Ltd., Lothar Rentschler, submitted his resignation on Tuesday (16th). In an email Rentschler distributed to various industry associates (and first brought to light by QuadJacks.com), the marketing maven described his decision to leave Pocket Kings after three years as “not as easy step” but “given the current circumstances … a long overdue step towards the right direction.” Rentschler’s tenure at Pocket Kings will officially end Sept. 13.
In his email, Rentschler expressed his frustration with the notorious ‘silence is golden’ communications strategy exhibited by FTP, its affiliated companies and personnel post-Black Friday. “I do apologize for the inconvenience the current circumstances at PKL have caused for you personally as well as for your respective companies. Our hands in Marketing were bound and at the end even every communication was stopped. Again, I can only apologize for this situation. The future will hopefully see a better, well organized structure and a return to business as usual. To see the brand FTP going down that way, hurts a lot.”
Rentschler’s departure from Pocket Kings is not an isolated incident. Up to 30 staffers have reportedly shuffled out the door since Black Friday (many having ended up at crosstown rival Paddy Power). And the FTP exodus isn’t limited to the Emerald Isle. Earlier this month, WickedChopsPoker claimed to have been told by multiple sources that FTP had laid off a number of its US-based employees. Not long after that, Nahuel Ponce of Spanish-language ESPNdeportes.com tweeted that FTP had “decided to suspend all activity of the international department.” Mike Matusow later confirmed to QuadJacks that FTP’s ‘country managers’ were being handed their walking papers. FTP’s next hearing with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission regarding FTP’s suspended operating license is scheduled to take place in London “no later than” Sept. 15.
