Home / Poker News May 2011 / The Poker Grapevine - Full Tilt Poker Account Unfrozen
The Poker Grapevine - Full Tilt Poker Account Unfrozen
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2011-05-30 06:41
Per the agreement it has reached with Full Tilt poker in the wake of the Black Friday events, the DoJ has unfrozen a Bank of Ireland account belonging to the company, where allegedly around one third of the US players’ funds are held. The move was obviously meant to facilitate the return of money to the site’s US customers, but players shouldn’t get overly excited about it yet. The actual process behind the restitution of US monies is apparently a rather intricate one, therefore, there is still no timetable regarding the return of funds to US based players who used to play at
Full Tilt Poker.
The whole problem started before the site was actually aware of the seizure of its accounts. The ongoing negotiations with the Southern District also represent a huge impediment in the way of progress.
In other news: Iowa has just joined the list of states exploring the possibility of legalizing online poker. Governor Terry Branstad has just signed a bill which pretty much orders a study on online gambling to be made, putting possible state-level legalization into perspective sometime next year. The bill may also prove instrumental in overhauling Iowa legislation concerning advance-deposit horse racing betting.
The
2011 WSOP is pretty much around the corner. Given the high number of online qualifiers who attended the various events last year, combined with the fact that Black Friday has pretty much crippled the online poker industry in the US, player numbers are likely to fall in comparison to last year’s yield. Several of the events that have become popular WSOP landmarks will be missing as well. The Tournament of Champions, the high-rolling event which never fails to bring the cream of the poker crop together, will be absent too. There will still be plenty of opportunities for the Everyday Joes though, and online qualifiers will continue to stream in from the other corners of the world.
