On Tuesday, Subject: Poker was the first to report that Groupe Bernard Tapie and the U.S. Department of Justice “have come to terms that allow GBT’s acquisition of Full Tilt Poker to continue. If FTP’s current shareholders agree to acquisition of their company, this deal with the DOJ will provide for payment of all players worldwide.” While PocketFives can independently confirm that a deal was agreed to in principle, it is not yet set in stone and could still change in the coming days.

A source close to the negotiations told PocketFives on Tuesday that an agreement between the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie could be finalized as soon as this week or next week. No further update was available on Wednesday.

According to an e-mail posted on Subject: Poker and other poker news sites, Full Tilt’s Ray Bitar(pictured) explained that the tentative deal calls for the repayment of players in the United States and the rest of the world (ROW): “My understanding is the deal provides that in exchange for an agreed upon payment by GBT, and a GBT commitment to assume responsibility for payment of ROW players, DOJ will reimburse U.S. players and settle the outstanding civil litigation with the companies comprising FTP.”

A time line for the repayment of players is not known at this time. In a press release sent out in late September, the DOJ noted that the process of refunding Full Tilt customers could take quite a while: “We cannot predict the duration of proceedings in this case, other than to state that they will last for many months at the least. We will apprise victims of the alleged fraud of future developments as appropriate.”

In an interview with iGamingFrance that popped up on Wednesday, Groupe Bernard Tapie Managing Director Laurent Tapie predicted that a deal with the DOJ would be finalized in the next two weeks: “Payment terms are set. We will draft an agreement to be signed within 15 days to come, and we will issue a statement shortly that will provide more information.” According to Subject: Poker, two-thirds of Full Tilt’s shareholders must also approve the deal.

Players from around the online poker community reacted to the news that a tentative deal had been struck between the DOJ and Groupe Bernard Tapie. WSOP bracelet winner Blair blur5f6 Hinkle (pictured) was one of them, posting on Twitter, “Woot woot! Hadn’t checked Twitter all day, but now find out GBT and U.S. DOJ struck a deal! FTP players to be paid!” According to Bluff Magazine, Hinkle has over $1 million frozen on Full Tilt by virtue of a final table in the FTOPS Main Event in February.

In a thread on PocketFives, the mood was much less optimistic than Hinkle’s, with one poster writing, “I will not let any of these threads get my hopes up until something is official.” Another member of the PocketFives community echoed, “Yeah, to me this is still all blah, blah, blah. I’ll believe it when I have a check in my hands.”

Other U.S. players questioned whether they’d automatically be obligated to pay taxes on any funds coming directly from the DOJ: “If payouts will be coming from the DOJ, you can probably count on 20% being withheld for taxes along with a notice of your impending audit.”

Speaking of taxes, PocketFives spoke to poker tax expert Ann-Margaret Johnston (pictured), who cautioned that it’s not uncommon for the DOJ and IRS to share information: “You should always pay taxes on your poker winnings no matter what, whether you take it offline or not. In this case, the IRS could know about it if they want to know about it. It is not uncommon for the two agencies to share information.” You can learn more about poker taxes by visiting PokerDeductions.com.

We’ll have more on this story as it develops right here on PocketFives.