Boss Going Offline or Hyped Up Story?

Boss Media who runs IPN has been ordered by a Maltese court to cease commercial activity from their servers based in Malta before September 18th 2008.  PokerTrillion.com who initiated the suit against Boss Media is hyping up this story to make it seem like Boss Media and IPN will be completely offline on Sept 18. 

According to Gaming Intelligence Group, PokerTrillion.com CEO, Andy Pyrah, said: “Today’s decision will in effect bring down Boss Media’s operation in their licensed jurisdiction of Malta on September 18, and any partner still on the Boss (IPN) Poker Network at this stage will see their service closed down too.”

While it’s possible that Boss could be offline on Sept. 18, I think it’s highly unlikely.  IPN hosts fronts like Yahoo Poker, Virgin Poker, and Paradise so this isn’t some fly by night network.  They may not even have anything important still happening in Malta.  I know St. Minver that is somehow associated with Boss and IPN is located here in Gibraltar so who knows what they have here or there? 

Here’s what Boss Media has to say on their website in response:

Poker Trillion’s recent comments are a reckless attempt to support a legal action that is without merit and initiated as retribution for their dismissal from the Boss Media network. To be clear, player funds are not affected by the current proceedings. All players’ funds are held separately under the control of the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority and cannot be seized by any court.

Poker Trillion is a former customer of Boss Media who was terminated because of rake back violations. They have since then repeatedly tried to disrupt the Boss Media business through the dissemination of groundless rumors. In April 2008 Poker Trillion alleged in a press release a claim that among other things, Boss Media player funds were frozen. The allegations were false but typical of the type of tactics employed by Poker Trillion.

So you’ve got both sides of the story.  Who am I more likely to believe?  Well, that’s up to you but I’m inclined to go with something closer to Boss’ version.