On Thursday, the Garden City Group, which is acting as the Claims Administrator for U.S. Full Tilt Poker accounts, updated its claims website. Player balances as of April 15, 2011, not deposits, will determine the amount each person is paid out. Additionally, according to the text, the claims process will being “shortly,” although no definitive time frame was given. The claims process was also slated to begin “shortly” when the Garden City Group was first appointed to the position of Claims Administrator back in March.

The website, FullTiltPokerClaims.com, contains text that reads in part, “It has been determined that the calculation formula to be used for the Petition for Remission process will bebased on players’ final balances with FTP as of April 15, 2011.” On that day, Black Friday, the site withdrew from the U.S. market. Afterwards, a financial debacle resulted in Full Tilt selling its assets through the U.S. Government to its one-time chief rival, PokerStars.

The text on Full Tilt Poker’s claim website adds, “Once the process begins, GCG will email instructions on how to complete an online claim to all potentially eligible claimants identified by GCG utilizing data supplied by FTP. Account balances from online poker sites other than FTP are not included in this remission process.” You might recall that two weeks ago, CardPlayer published an article saying that the claims process could take more than a year to be completed.

One of the biggest question marks heading into the claims process is whether Full Tilt players would receive 100% of their balances or simply a percentage. The Garden City Group addressed that point, saying, “If the forfeited funds available for distribution equal or exceed the aggregate FTP account balances for all eligible petitioners, each eligible petitioner with an approved claim will receive the entirety of his or her FTP account balance. If the aggregate FTP account balances for all eligible petitioners exceed the funds available for distribution, payments shall be made to eligible petitioners on a pro rata basis.”

The Poker Players Alliance, the primary lobbying voice for poker players on Capitol Hill in the U.S., wrote two memos to the Department of Justice last year campaigning for player balances to be used as the basis for refunds. Read the letters.

PokerStars forfeited $547 million to the U.S. Government as part of its deal to acquire Full Tilt last year and repaid nearly $200 million owed by Full Tilt to non-U.S. customers. Meanwhile, Full Tilt players in the United States have been separated from their balances since Black Friday and watched as PokerStars’ U.S. clientele were paid back nearly immediately after April 15, 2011.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest on the Full Tilt remissions process right here on PocketFives. You can discuss the news in this PocketFives thread or by leaving a comment here.

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