Full Tilt repayment process begins next month
Customers able to file for remission through settlement administration company Garden City Group as of 16 September
US customers of Full Tilt Poker who had their accounts suspended as part of Black Friday will be able to file for refunds from next month the administrator has announced.
Garden City Group (GCG), the US Department of Justice-appointed claims administrator, said US-based players will be able to file petitions for reimbursement in a window running from 16 September to 15 November.
Players will be instructed on the claims procedure in an email to be sent out on 16 September, with a list of instructions also available on the claims website.
Funds estimated to be worth in excess of $300m were frozen when the US Department of Justice seized the FTP domain name as part of proceedings alleging UIGEA violations.
Non-US customers were repaid in full following the acquisition of Full Tilt by PokerStars owner Rational Group, but US customers who had outstanding balances with FTP have until now been unable to claim a refund.
Rational Group acquired the assets of Full Tilt Poker in a $731m deal with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in July last year, which included $184m set aside to pay back non-US customers.
It is estimated that around $186m will be taken from the amount the DoJ received in order to refund US-based players, with Poker Players Alliance executive director John Pappas confident there to be enough cash to repay those affected.
“Players have waited too long, and we’re glad there is now a process in place and the DoJ are expediting that process,” said Pappas, revealing that cheques could be making their way to customers in early 2014.
Despite the promising development, Pappas noted that some concerns remained over the factoring in of non-cash assets held by some players.
There has yet to be any indication from GCG whether FTP’s reward system, within which players used points to purchase tournament tickets and gifts, would be considered in future remissions.
PokerStars honoured a similar system during its remission process, and Pappas confirmed that the DoJ was looking into the situation.