October 1, 2008 — CAP has released a statement today regarding the postponement of ASOP at this year's CAP Euro Barcelona conference. Administered in conjunction with PokerAffiliatePrograms.com (PAP), CAP’s sister company, the ASOP was originally scheduled to take place during CAP Euro Barcelona last weekend.
On the afternoon of Saturday, September 27, undercover Spanish police arrived at the ASOP event being held in Barcelona’s Hotel Princesa Sofia. The police proceeded to terminate the event due to legality issues regarding the game’s prize fund. Roughly 40 players had been participating in the tournament at the time.
According to representatives, the company, which had made every effort to abide by all applicable local laws, was caught off guard by the action. CAP legal representatives had cleared all legal issues prior to the event, making it clear to the appropriate authorities that the tournament was a private, “free roll” style event and not open to the public.
"We don't put these tournaments on without permission, which is exactly why we have a specific registration system and a number of checks that affiliates have to go through to gain the password. This is on top of a number of other components to ensure we run an event that is completely legal," stated Alex Pratt, an organizer for CAP Euro. "We obviously checked on Catalan and Spanish law prior to this event. The issue at this point seems to have arisen from a little-publicized change in Catalan law that occurred within the past year."
No arrests were made, and fines levied by Spanish authorities are very minimal, according to company representatives.
The company will resume this year’s ASOP tournament in an online format, with additional compensation and rewards being offered to players to make up for the inconvenience. Further details will soon be released by the company.
"This unfortunate event does nothing to detract from the prestige of the ASOP tournament," added Mr. Pratt. "We will ensure that all participants can resume their games in an online format, and as a gesture of goodwill, we are also increasing the prize pool for the online event."
In response to these events, the company also plans to increase the size of the next ASOP tournament scheduled for January 2009, as part of CAP Euro London, its yearly London-based trade show that also includes the prestigious CAP Awards ceremony (read more on the CAP Awards here).