So Full Tilt Poker just keeps player deposit safely locked away, right? Money may change hands as poker hands are won and lost, but isn’t the total deposit base intact?
Wrong. At least according to Phil Ivey’s lawsuit.
Ivey alleges that “Full Tilt Poker failed to maintain a reserve account sufficient to satisfy the return of funds to U.S. players.”
Full Tilt Poker, like most places that take your deposits, doesn’t just sock away the money. Instead, it invests a large chunk of that money. Banks do it, brokerages do it, and even insurance companies do it.
For example, in a country with a bank reserve requirement ratio of 10 percent, banks would only hold 10 percent of their total deposits in cash. They would then lend/invest 90 percent of the money to earn returns.
Of course, the greater percentage of depositor money banks invest, they more money they can make for themselves.
Regulators know this.
That’s why there are laws governing how much reserves banks maintain. Moreover, if banks ever run into trouble, a government central bank is usually there to help bail it out.
Wrong. At least according to Phil Ivey’s lawsuit.
Ivey alleges that “Full Tilt Poker failed to maintain a reserve account sufficient to satisfy the return of funds to U.S. players.”
Full Tilt Poker, like most places that take your deposits, doesn’t just sock away the money. Instead, it invests a large chunk of that money. Banks do it, brokerages do it, and even insurance companies do it.
For example, in a country with a bank reserve requirement ratio of 10 percent, banks would only hold 10 percent of their total deposits in cash. They would then lend/invest 90 percent of the money to earn returns.
Of course, the greater percentage of depositor money banks invest, they more money they can make for themselves.
Regulators know this.
That’s why there are laws governing how much reserves banks maintain. Moreover, if banks ever run into trouble, a government central bank is usually there to help bail it out.
