Full Tilt Poker affiliates were dealt a body blow this week when The Rational Group, parent company of PokerStars and FTP, announced it wouldn't pay past affiliate commissions due and it was removing previous payments made through player accounts.
"Other than the non-U.S. player balances, The Rational Group did not assume any liabilities of the previous Full Tilt Poker companies and therefore previous contractual agreements that Full Tilt Poker may have had with affiliates were excluded," the company said in a letter to affiliates. "As such, The Rational Group is not liable and will not pay for any affiliate earnings which may have been due to you under your agreement with any former Full Tilt Poker company."
The letter comes two months after a Full Tilt representative posted a non-committal response to a question regarding affiliate payments in twoplustwo forums.
"I don't have the answer for this (affiliate payments)," said the FTP representative. "I'm confident that once the affiliate plan is solidified all of the affiliates will be updated."
Affiliates who were paid through their FTP player accounts will see those funds removed from their balances as well.
"For those accounts where player funds are commingled with funds derived from affiliate earnings, The Rational Group will only be making the portion of the funds relating to your previous player activity available for withdrawal," reads the letter to affiliates.
Affiliates still interested in promoting the new Full Tilt Poker will have to wait until 2013. The Rational Group says the new Full Tilt affiliate program will launch in the first quarter of next year.