Is the PokerStars Acquisition of Full Tilt Poker Dead?
Let the debate begin. On Wednesday, former Party Gaming legal counsel James Barnes posted on Twitter that the rumored PokerStars acquisition of Full Tilt Pokerwas nothing more than a bluff. Barnes Tweeted, “PokerStars folds on FTP deal. Never real deal, just bluff to prevent Tapie from bringing FTP back to market – great bargaining chip with DOJ.”
Barnes followed up that Tweet by posting, “DOJ have rejected proposal by Isai to have civil charges dropped. He’s worried about jail time. PokerStars have gone all-in! Will DOJ fold?”
Needless to say, Barnes’ Tweets received a considerable amount of publicity, as players on Full Tilt Poker have been separated from their bankrolls for the last 15 months. In fact, his messages made it all the way to PokerStarsitself, with Head of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser telling ESPN that the rumors were “false.”
ESPN’s Andrew Feldman took to Twitter to say, “The Head of Corp Communications for @PokerStars @erichollreiser says the Twitter rumors of PS folding on the FTP deal are ‘false.’” Then, Hollreiser re-Tweeted Feldman’s message, although he did not make an original Tweet of his own.
Feldman added, “To clarify, @erichollreiser said the tweets from today were ‘false.’ That’s it.” Hollreiser did not specify which component(s) of the Tweets were false.
Hollreiser then re-Tweeted two additional Tweets from PokerNews personnel. The first, which came from PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Matt Parvis, read, “Thanks to @LaneyLV digging, source from PokerStars tells PokerNews there are many false tweets in regards to PS/FTP rumors.” The second came from PokerNews contributor Elaine Chaivarlis (@LaneyLV), who Tweeted, “PokerStars’ @erichollreiser told me a bit ago that there are many false tweets out there in regard to PokerStars and FTP.”
On Friday, an industry insider told PocketFives that PokerStars’ purchase of Full Tilt “is going to happen. They just need time to talk with the DOJ.” The same source extrapolated, “We are talking about negotiations between $750 million and $1.5 billion. So, it’s big money with big collateral damages. It’s in the interest of the DOJ and PokerStars to finalize a deal, so they’ll get it done. They just need to agree on everything.”
On what specifically still needs to be agreed to, our source pointed to jail time for PokerStars’ Black Friday defendants Isai Scheinberg and P.T. as well as whether PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker would be able to apply for a U.S. gaming license.
In terms of when we could see a deal finalized, our source speculated that it was in each party’s best interest to hammer out terms before the November elections in the United States. We would see a change in leadership if likely Republican candidate Mitt Romney can defeat incumbent Barack Obama. The Obama administration was in office on Black Friday.
You’ll recall that Full Tilt Poker front man Ray Bitar (pictured), who recently surrendered to U.S. authorities and was freed on bail, referenced a possible PokerStars deal in an e-mail sent to Full Tilt employees. His words potentially put to rest any doubts as to whether a deal with PokerStars was actually in the works given the relative silence from both sides.
Bitar outlined, “We have all worked hard over the last 15 months to preserve Full Tilt’s assets and potential in order to provide for the repayment of all players, and that continues to be our top priority. It is as important as ever that we all do everything possible to make that happen and hopefully our deal with PokerStars will very soon make our goal a reality.”
What “very soon” means remains to be seen.
Our source also rehashed the fallout from the failed Groupe Bernard Tapie acquisition of Full Tilt, which was officially called off in late April. Our insider argued that PokerStars was a much more attractive negotiating partner than GBT: “The DOJ had the opportunity to get much more money for Full Tilt through PokerStars than GBT. The DOJ knows that PokerStars has the money to fix everything, while GBT wouldn’t have put in too much.”
In the end, according to our source, the DOJ asked GBT to repay players within 90 days, a term that Tapie could not agree to.
What do you think? Will PokerStars’ acquisition of Full Tilt go through? If so, when? We’ll keep you posted on the latest Full Tilt Poker news.