If you got screwed when Full Tilt Poker folded, there’s a payout coming your way.
PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker company, will purchase Full Tilt as part of a $731 million deal to settle the U.S. government’s fraud charges against PokerStars, reports Forbes.
Full Tilt head honcho Ray Bitar said the deal is good news for gamblers who were shafted by his company’s demise:
“Over the past few days, I signed the papers necessary to complete Full Tilt’s deal with the U.S. Government. I believe that this deal will result in Full Tilt’s customers being repaid.”
The deal stems from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s war on online poker sites. The government crackdown destroyed Full Tilt and left CEO Bitar facing criminal charges. Meanwhile PokerStars, which is based in the Isle of Man, was charged with dodging U.S. laws restricting internet gambling, while founder Isai Scheinbergis remains under indictment.
Bharara needed to clean up the loose ends left by Full Tilt’s collapse, hence the settlement, Forbes reports:
…it was clearly important for Bharara to deal with the perception that U.S. citizens had been overwhelmingly left in the lurch because of his intervention in the online poker industry. But in order to pull off a sale of Full Tilt’s assets, Bharara needed to make a deal with PokerStars, a company whose founder is under indictment.
Shafted Full Tilt customers must apply to the Department of Justice for reimbursement.