by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Apr 7, 2012 | Updated on Apr 7, 2012
One of the major questions surrounding the Epic Poker League when it was first formed was simply a matter of numbers. How would a league that charged no entry fee for its tournaments and actually added significant prize money to each tournament manage to make money? When it turned out that the league couldn’t get a paid television deal and wasn’t working with its own (or any other) online poker site, the finances of the EPL became even more questionable to many poker observers.Now, after filing for bankruptcy, much of the Epic Poker League’s financial data has been revealed for the first time – and it seems to suggest that the skeptics were asking the right questions.In the first 14 months of the Epic Poker League, the organizations managed only $37,052 in income – not even enough to add the $400,000 in additional prize money guaranteed for each tournament. That paltry figure was offset by nearly $7.9 million in liabilities for Federated Sports and Gaming, the parent company that ran the league.Where did all of that money go? The largest liability was a debt of over $2 million to PNK Development 10, a company owned by the Las Vegas casino company Pinnacle Entertainment. Nearly another $2 million was owed to All In Productions, the company that sold the Heartland Poker Tour to FS+G last year. It’s worth noting that the Heartland Poker Tour seems to have been unaffected by the Epic Poker League bankruptcy, and has continued to be successful under the new ownership.Another major cost came in the form of paying Federated Sports and Gaming’s five officers, including Annie Duke and Jeffery Pollack. Five officers received salaries of over $1.1 million in total, though they were also owed more than $660,000 by the time the company declared bankruptcy.The bankruptcy court has already approved a streamlined budget for Federated Sports, which does not include any mention of the unplayed tournaments on the Epic Poker League schedule. These included the fourth and final league tournament, as well as the $1 million freeroll scheduled for the league’s top 27 players. y702n
