Stars prepares audacious Full Tilt deal
Details remain unclear with Stars understood to be in latter stages of finalising an agreement with the US Department of Justice - a move that could go as far as see it settle and its two indicted executives cleared.
PokerStars is understood to have agreed a deal to acquire former US rival Full Tilt Poker in an audacious move that would see it extend its dominance of the sector and, according to sources, also potentially settle with the Department of Justice for less than half the original estimated amount suggested last April.
Just hours after rumours began to spread on the Two Plus Two poker forum and on Twitter with former Team Full Tilt member Andy Bloch tweeting: “This might just be “Super Tuesday”, the only previous bidder, Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT), released a statement saying the consortium had pulled out of seven month-long negotiations to buy the suspended site due to “unresolvable” legal complications and a failure to agree a player repayment plan.
Meanwhile, as GBT was preparing to officially announce its withdrawal, Stars staff on the Isle of Man received an internal memo from general counsel Paul Telford alerting them to the fact that they could “expect to read numerous rumours” suggesting the company was looking to acquire Full Tilt. However, it went on to say that the company was not in a position to go into any further detail as part of an agreement with the Department of Justice.
eGaming Review tried on numerous occasions to contact PokerStars head of corporate communications Eric Hollreiser, the only person who is prepared to officially comment on the so-called rumours, but he was unable to comment at the time. Hollreiser, as well as a number of Stars staff and several of its top pros including Daniel Negreanu, are currently involved in arguably the operator’s biggest ever live event in Monaco, the European Poker Tour Super High Roller that has a 100,000 buy-in.
Senior officials are said to have been in discussions with the DoJ and FTP for some time, according to sources, and are understood to have a statement ready to send out to staff and external media once the DoJ gives Stars the green light.
Speculation surrounds exactly what Stars would look to do with Full Tilt should the deal go through or whether as part of the deal the company and its indicted founder Isai Scheinberg and head of payments Paul Tate would be cleared of all charges against them as laid out on April 15 last year. It also remains unclear whether the indictments opened against Full Tilt founder and former CEO Ray Bitar, and Pocket Kings’ director of payments Nelson Burtnick, will be scrapped if the acquisition is completed.
Alex Dreyfus, founder and chief executive of ChiliPoker, whose B2B arm was recently sold to Ballys, tweeted earlier: “Pokerstars buys Full Tilt for a consideration of $750m, including settlement with DoJ and full balances of players (330m). I’m impressed.”
If Dreyfus’s sources are accurate the “settlement fee” would be far less than the originally amount the DoJ was said to be looking for, around US$1.5bn, for Scheinberg and Tate’s alleged involvement in the offences cited on Black Friday.
Minutes later poker training site and affiliate portal PokerFarm speculated on Twitter that Stars would purchase FTP but keep the Full Tilt brand separate. “Wouldn’t make sense to integrate the two. More to follow but sources seem to be accurate,” it added.
WickedChops later tweeted: “For those still doubting deal “ DoJ isn’t killing Tapie without an alternative in place. DoJ ready for this to be over.”