Desktop View

Published: 5th November 2011 Written by Poker News
Updated: 4th December 2023

Full Tilt Poker Deal with Groupe Bernard Tapie and DOJ - November 2011Great news for fans of Full Tilt Poker, the former #2 venue in online poker and even better news for those who have had their bankrolls frozen at the site since Full Tilt’s worldwide closure after the AGCC revoked their gaming license.

Full Tilt Poker looks set to make a comeback deal with Groupe Bernard Tapie taking over command of the once so popular poker room, the deal which has the approval of the DOJ will include paying all outstanding players worldwide that have money suspended in their Full Tilt player accounts.

Although exact details of the deal have not been fully disclosed to date, Managing Director of Groupe Bernard Tapie, Laurent Tapie has confirmed that “payment terms are defined” and that he expects an agreement to be drafted and signed within the next two weeks.

The deal reached between Full Tit Poker, the Department of Justice and Group Bernard Tapie (GBT) will in part comprise of GBT repaying players outside of the USA as well as an unspecified amount to the DOJ. The Department of Justice then in turn refund all US players their outstanding balances.

Once the deal with the DOJ has been finalized, Groupe Bernard Tapie will then need to propose the deal to the current Full Tilt Poker shareholders who then need to vote in favor of the deal with a two thirds majority vote in order for it to be approved.

Should an agreement be reached with the shareholders in favor of the proposed deal and subsequent sale, GBT will then be required to relicense Full Tilt and we will be a step closer to seeing the relaunch of FullTiltPoker.

Our sincere apologies for not providing more details on the deal but that’s all that’s available for the time being, we will follow up with more news as and when it becomes available.

On the speculative side, one wonders if Full Tilt could ever successfully relaunch under Groupe Bernard Tapie’s command bearing in mind that they will no longer have access to the USA poker market which was and still is the real money earner.

Full Tilt Poker being closed for so many months certainly hasn’t helped their cause as they have upset thousands of their once loyal fans, if FullTilt Poker do relaunch, which hopefully will be in January 2012, they will only have the rest of the world players to market to many of whom would have lost faith in the Full Tilt brand and quite rightly so after this ordeal and the manner in which it was dealt with by management.

I think the only way forward would be to have a completely new management team in charge of every aspect of the newly reformed company and would imagine they would need to offer unworldly bonuses to entice their old players back again which on the other hand could be a good thing for players.

One last comment, PokerStars must be commended for their handling of their closure and returning US players funds promptly. Hopefully someday in the not so distant future we will see the doors of all the big name online poker sites re-open to the USA. There are still a hand full of sites that have remained open for real money, be sure to check our USA Poker rooms section for more details.

Play poker online from the USA, UWin Poker still allows USA players for real money