Full Tilt Poker Payments to US Customers Will Take At Least Another Year

Americans owed money from Full Tilt Poker since April 15, 2011 may have to wait at least another year, according to a claims adjuster overseeing distribution.

The US Government assigned The Garden City Group to pay out millions of dollars to customers following a settlement agreement last year.  Full Tilt Poker had been forced to shut down after being named as part of an indictment charging money laundering and bank fraud.  The online poker firm’s international business has since been taken over by PokerStars.

$184 million is currently owed to US based customers with an estimated 1.3 million players owed.

From CardPlayer.com:

According to an unnamed supervisor at GCG, the process will “most likely” take longer than a year, probably longer. In some instances, it’s taken GCG more than two years to process claims.

“There are no dates set in stone as of yet,” he said. “We haven’t even begun the claims process.”

Affected customers may ultimately see just pennies on the dollar.

Once all the player account information is processed and the players are accounted for, the GCG will create a formula called “estimated recovery.” This calculation will determine just how much money each U.S. player will receive. Players outside of the U.S. received 100 percent of their currency from PokerStars.

After the “estimated recovery” amount is determined, GCG must receive a court order to actually distribute the money, CardPlayer.com noted.

- Patrick Flanagan, Gambling911.com