The long and winding road that has been the discussion of the sale of the embattled online poker site Full Tilt Poker to the French investment firm Groupe Bernard Tapie has apparently reached its endgame, pending agreement by U. S. authorities.
Yesterday afternoon, CNN Money quickly reported that the sale had been finalized for Groupe Bernard Tapie to take over the online site for a reported $80 million. Today, however, that same story has a correction on it that states “an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that all aspects of the deal for the sale of Full Tilt Poker to Groupe Bernard Tapie had been finalized, including an agreement between Full Tilt Poker and the U. S. Department of Justice. A final announcement is still pending.”
Until the announcement by the U. S. Department of Justice, the apparent sale of the former number two player in the online poker industry is still in limbo. Still, the announcement that the deal will move forward – once the final hurdle has been cleared – has to be good news for international patrons’ first and somewhat good news for American customers.
Under the deal, Groupe Bernard Tapie would assume control of the Full Tilt Poker operation for $80 million, as reported by GBT attorney Behnam Dayanim, and GBT would release claims to any assets seized by the U. S. Department of Justice regarding the operations of the of the old Full Tilt Poker.
Once GBT takes control of the operation, the company would have to first get it relicensed with a regulatory agency. Previously, Full Tilt Poker held an online gaming license with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), but that was first suspended in June and permanently revoked in September, and a secondary license through the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), which requires a primary license.
After the relicensing, Groupe Bernard Tapie could then enter into the process of reactivating the site, whether under the Full Tilt Poker banner or not. CNN Money reports that the deal between GBT and the U. S. DoJ will call for international players to be repaid, if desired, by the new ownership of Full Tilt Poker. GBT would also then be able to accept international players to the newly activated site.
For Americans, the story isn’t quite as good. Any repayment of funds that were on the site will be coming from the U. S. Department of Justice, according to the proposed deal with GBT. U. S. players with a bankroll on the former Full Tilt Poker would have to apply for their money through the Department of Justice and it is unclear whether they would receive their full balances or not.
As of today, there has been no confirmation statement of a deal with Groupe Bernard Tapie from the U. S. Department of Justice officials or the Southern District of New York attorneys who were responsible for filing the “Black Friday” lawsuits that brought down Full Tilt Poker.
The past seven months have seen the downfall of what was at one time one of the most popular online poker outlets in the industry. After its indictment by the U. S. Department of Justice in April, Full Tilt Poker trudged along serving the remainder of the world until it was shut down by the AGCC in June. After this shutdown, things only got worse for Full Tilt Poker.
The DoJ amended its complaint against Full Tilt Poker in September, including players Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst, and accusing them of stripping the site of over $400 million over the past few years. This has proven to be painful for these men as they have become pariahs in the poker community and haven’t appeared at any poker events since April, including the 2011 World Series of Poker.
Although the deal reported by CNN Money looks good on the outset, there will be some question as to how Groupe Bernard Tapie approaches a key issue: paying international players back. It is estimated that Full Tilt Poker owed players worldwide as much as $390 million; even with approximately $150 million of that now being taken care of in the proposed DoJ deal, that still leaves a $240 million bite that GBT may have to take – unless it can convince former players on Full Tilt Poker to come back.
More than ever, glad not to ba an American. Sorry that’s just the way it is.