The End Of Ultimate Bet?

May 5, 2011, Posted by Pokerfarm

Things are looking pretty bleak for controversial US online poker site Ultimate Bet. Shareholders were told this week that bankruptcy was inevitable due to 'no cash on hand and no prospects for any cash flow for the foreseeable future'.

Blanca Gaming, the Norwegian holding company for UB has provided notice ... that it is 'currently unable to make any payments toward its debt obligations'.'Additionally, Blanca has further advised that there will be no future payments'.

UB support staff based out in Costa Rica were also emailed stating there would not be any future work for them. 95% of the support workforce have had their contracts terminated.

Blanca Gaming could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Since the indictment issued by the US Attorney's Office on April 15th, it seems that only Pokerstars have been honouring withdrawals to their US based players. Full Tilt Poker are still having issues with withdrawals for US based customers although noises from industry insiders appear to be confident that Full Tilt's US player base will be able to get their funds from the site eventually. How long this will take is anyone's guess.

One thing's for sure right now though; Ultimate Bet has for want of a better analogy, folded. UB was undoubtedly one of the frontrunners in online poker for several years and endorsed by the likes of Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. However consumer confidence in the brand hit an all-time low in 2009 when its 'superuser' scandal leaked. Players had been cheated for millions of dollars and the poker community was up in arms. Sadly Ultimate Bet never recovered from this scandal and it seems that events in the US this last month have proven the final nail in its coffin.