July 31st will likely go down as one of the busiest news days in the history of online poker. Earlier today, it was announced that PokerStars had officially purchased the assets of Full Tilt Poker with the help of the U.S. Government and will be responsible for repaying players outside of the United States. Meanwhile, players within the U.S. will need to file a claim with the U.S. Department of Justice in order to get their cash. Shortly after the announcement came out, PokerStars revealed plans to reopen Full Tilt.A statement found on the PokerStars Blog read in part, "We plan to reopen the Full Tilt site and, most importantly, we will make available all funds for players outside the U.S. within 90 days of the formal close of the deal, which will occur in the next seven days." PokerStars has six days to transfer $225 million to the DOJ of the $547 million it owes.
PokerStars went onto say that "our first order of business is to reopen the site, pay back all of the players, and begin rebuilding Full Tilt's reputation." You'll recall that Full Tilt was once the second largest online poker site in the world in terms of cash game volume, according to PokerScout, second only to its new owner, PokerStars.
Full Tilt's world came crashing down last April, when two of its executives, Ray Bitar and Nelson Burtnick, were indicted along with nine other individuals by the U.S. Department of Justice on Black Friday. In June 2011, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended the company's gaming license before officially revoking it in September on the grounds that Full Tilt "misled" the agency.
In November, Groupe Bernard Tapie had reportedly reached a deal to acquire the assets of Full Tilt, but that transaction never went through. PokerStars then swooped in and bought its former rival. You'll recall that just before Black Friday, Full Tilt Poker owed $390 million to players, but only had $60 million in cash on-hand with which to do so, according to the DOJ.
PokerStars shared some insight as to the future of its new brand: "We will operate Full Tilt as a separate brand, giving players another leading and trusted platform to enjoy the game. The re-launched Full Tilt site will bring back the innovative features, the authentic poker, and the cutting-edge software that made it so popular with millions of players worldwide."
Full Tilt's software innovations included the fast-paced Rush Poker, which debuted in early 2010, as well as games like Cashout tournaments. Companies including PokerStars have since introduced their own versions of high-speed tables despite Rush Poker reportedly being patent-pending.PokerStars called the process of rebooting Full Tilt Poker "a complex challenge involving technical, practical, and logistical hurdles affecting millions of player accounts." Over $300 million is currently outstanding to Full Tilt's players worldwide and PokerStars will concurrently undergo a management change of sorts with Isai Scheinberg stepping down per instructions from the U.S. Government.
Perhaps most importantly for PokerStars, once Full Tilt Poker has come back online, both sites will have the opportunity to reenter the U.S. market. The PokerStars statement added, "Our settlement acknowledges that both PokerStars and Full Tilt are eligible to apply for a license in the U.S. to offer real money poker when states or the Federal Government offer such an opportunity."
Right now, Delaware and Nevada have legalized online poker, with games likely launching in early 2013, although South Point in Nevada has said it will be online in September.
Should Full Tilt come back online? Or is the brand too tainted to be successful? Would you play there? Let us know by leaving a comment here.
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PokerStars Purchase of Full Tilt Finalized, Isai Scheinberg to Step Down
