Home / Poker News August 2012 / The Full Tilt Takeover – US Players vs Non-US Players
The Full Tilt Takeover – US Players vs Non-US Players
Posted by: Randy Williams - Sun, 2012-08-05 09:23
The takeover of Full Tilt Poker by former rival
PokerStars, which earned the blessings of the US DoJ, was definitely a big deal. The news soon spilled over the confines of the niche media, right into mainstream as scores of non-experts chimed in and voiced their opinions regarding the matter. Some of these opinions are obviously more meaningful than others and some of them do indeed point to certain peculiarities in the settlement that may well have avoided detection at first glance by a casual observer.
One such peculiarity concerns the return of funds to players. The settlement makes it pretty clear that from the moment the transfer of Full Tilt’s assets is complete, PokerStars will have 90 days to allow their non-US players to reclaim their Full Tilt balances by simply withdrawing them. It is estimated that there are about 184 million dollars that will be distributed among non-US players this way, provided they all decide to withdraw everything.
In contrast, US players will have to go down a very different lane if they ever intend to recover their monies. They will be required to submit petitions to the DoJ to get their funds back. There are several problems with this picture though. First of all, simply submitting such a petition carries no guarantees whatsoever that the DoJ will indeed approve it. Secondly, it is quite possibly part of the DoJ’s plan that nickel and dime players will find the restitution process way too complex and taxing and thus they will simply give up their monies.
Thirdly, and quite possibly most importantly, those who have significant funds stuck at Full Tilt Poker, may find themselves reluctant to fill the DoJ in on their
online poker playing history, given the legally ambiguous status of the activity in the US. Those, whose jurisdictions have expressly outlawed online poker/gambling may indeed have some serious second thoughts in this respect.
