Home / Poker News April 2011 / Full Tilt and PokerStars regain domain names
Full Tilt and PokerStars regain domain names
Posted by: Randy Williams - Fri, 2011-04-22 09:03
Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars have apparently struck a deal with the DoJ over their .com domain names that were seized on April 15. As a result of that, the two sites seem to have regained their original URLs.
Full Tilt Poker issued a statement in the wake of the good news, pointing it out that the development will most likely help them return US players’ funds. According to US attorney Preet Bharara, no individual player account had been frozen and none of the player funds have been put into jeopardy by the government’s moves.
US based players will not be allowed to play at the real money tables, although for the rest of the world, it’ll be business as usual at Full Tilt Poker and
PokerStars. Despite the fact that everything seems to be clicking in regards to the return of funds to US players, there are still a number of basic and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, like the fact that there are no legal channels through which funds can be transferred from
online poker rooms to players residing in the US.
There are also several legal and jurisdictional issues on the table as well, which all need to be weighed before the payout of online poker profits can begin.
According to the US Attorney’s office, the current agreement will facilitate the return of online poker funds to US players who will now be able to log their refund requests (withdrawals) directly with the two online poker sites.
The agreement compels the two poker rooms in question to expressly prohibit access for US players and deposits originating from the US in exchange for the return of their URLs. Paying out players is not in any way hindered by the agreement.
The DoJ is ready to put the same agreement on AP’s table if the poker room chooses to recover its URL while committing to the reimbursement of all funds to their US players.
