The wait for the reimbursement of lost Full Tilt Poker player funds and the more than two year nightmare that it has become for former U.S. customers looks like it may be nearing an end. There may actually be a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. According to an e-mail posted on the Two Plus Two poker forum on Saturday, we could know a date for the start of the repayment process by the end of this week.
It is important to note that this does not mean that repayments will begin at the end of this week, but rather a date may be announced this week. Here is the e-mail, as posted on Two Plus Two (bold added):
At this time we cannot provide a specific date, but expect to be able to provide a launch date by the end of next week. Once the process begins, The Garden City Group, Inc. (“GCG”) will email instructions on how to complete an online claim to all potentially eligible claimants identified by GCG utilizing data supplied by Full Tilt Poker (“FTP”). Payments will be made electronically after the close of the claim submission period.
Former United States customers of Full Tilt who want to remain informed about the reimbursement process can visit fulltiltpokerclaims.com to register for e-mail notifications. Further questions can be addressed directly to the Full Tilt Poker Claims Administration at info@fulltiltpokerclaims.com and by phone at 866-250-2640.
On August 1st, Garden City Group (GCG), the organization that was chosen by the U.S Department of Justice to handle the disbursement of Full Tilt funds, announced on its website that the “claims process will begin shortly.” Once the games begin, GCG will send e-mails to everyone who may be eligible for refunds with instructions on how to stake their claims. The player information has been provided by Full Tilt Poker, so there is a chance that not everyone who lost funds will be contacted (because of incomplete information, lost records, or other reasons), but there will still be an opportunity to file a claim by following directions provided on the website linked above.
There is the possibility, however, that players will not receive the full amount that was in their Full Tilt accounts on Black Friday. This is because there is no guarantee that the amount of money available (about $184 million, as part of PokerStars’ deal with the U.S. DoJ to buy Full Tilt) will cover all of the U.S. accounts. On the GCG site, it reads:
If the forfeited funds available for distribution equal or exceed the aggregate FTP Account Balances for all eligible Petitioners, each eligible Petitioner with an approved claim will receive the entirety of his or her FTP Account Balance. If the aggregate FTP Account Balances for all eligible Petitioners exceed the funds available for distribution, payments shall be made to eligible Petitioners on a pro rata basis.
Nobody will know for sure until we’re likely well into the claims process whether or not GCG will need to start calculating the pro rata amounts.
