An auction was to be held Wednesday night in Washington, DC for the remnants of Federated Sports + Gaming (FS+G), which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. The former parent company of the fledgling Epic Poker League (EPL) flamed out in spectacular fashion, racking up $8m in debt – including $1.1m in salaries for FS+G honcho Jeffrey Pollack, EPL commissioner Annie Duke and three other top execs – while recording only around $37k in revenue during its mercifully brief existence.
Among the assets to be auctioned off is the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT), which FS+G purchased from All In Productions (AIP) in June 2011 for $2.95m, although AIP only ever received $1m – and even that outlay required FS+G to secure a $2m loan from US casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment in January. Also on the auction block is the Global Poker Index (GPI), the statistical ranking of poker player performance. The EPL is also up for grabs, despite its demonstrated inability to turn a profit. No word on whether anyone wants those 451 online domains FS+G registered.
The results of the auction will not be revealed until Thursday, but we know slightly more about the people in the audience holding the numbered paddles. These include AIP, which is still out $1.95m on the HPT deal; Pinnacle, out $2m, and UK bookmaker William Hill. PokerFuse claims the other two bankruptcy court-approved bidders are a US casino management company and a European poker investment firm, with eGamingReview identifying the latter as Chilipoker CEO Alex Dreyfus. Hills is apparently seeking full-spectrum dominance in the US by pairing a traveling poker roadshow with its pending Nevada sportsbook and online poker licenses.
No matter how tidy a sum the auction raises, it won’t be enough to keep Daniel Negreanu quiet. Upon learning of the auction, @RealKidPoker felt compelled to weigh in with the following: “GL to HPT +You suck @JeffreyPollack “ and “You @JeffreyPollack are a lowlife scumbag and you picked the perfect partner in crime to screw honest people over. #goodriddance” Hey, at least he didn’t call Pollack the c-word.
