Mar 13, 2013 Full Tilt Poker Refund Announced Staff March 13, 2013 1883 Reads A claims administrator has finally been named to begin processing US Full Tilt player refund requests.
There are a lot of poker players in the United States simultaneously experiencing great relief and a revival of their frustrations with their federal government.* After nearly three years, thousands of former Full Tilt Poker customers have finally received their funds that had been in limbo since Black Friday.
Ohio Refund Status
According to the Garden City Group (GCG), which was assigned to be the Full Tilt Poker Claims Administrator, over 27,500 players were paid approximately $76 million this past Friday, February 28th. Payments were made via electronic funds transfer to bank accounts specified in players’ petitions to the GCG.
The GCG stated that many who had refunds coming should have seen the money show up in their bank accounts on Friday, though depending on the financial institution, the transfer “may not be received for several business days.”
Not that we expect the record of the deposit to be difficult to spot, but for reference, this writer’s refund was labelled as “DOJ POKER STARS POKERPAY01.”
Full Tilt Poker Account Status
There will be another round of transfers soon for those who had previously filed a valid petition, but had included incorrect or incomplete bank information. Those people should have received an e-mail notice from the GCG to with instructions on how to correct the claim. Those who correct their information by March 13th will be included in the next round of refunds. No date has been specified for that second round.
There are also some former Full Tilt players who may be eligible for a refund but who owe a debt (unpaid taxes, for instance) to the U.S. government. It appears that those players will be able to receive their funds, but only after they are used to pay off the debt through the Treasury Offset Program. A Unified Financial Management System Vendor Request Form must be submitted to the GCG in order for everything to be processed properly.
For most people, this whole experience with Full Tilt Poker and frozen funds was merely a lengthy annoyance. We wanted our money and were angry with both Full Tilt’s leaders and the government that it took so long to get them back. But as frustrating as it was, the loss of that money wasn’t the end of the world. To others, though, the missing cash represented all or most of their poker bankrolls, the bankrolls with which they made a living. For them, the last three years, or at least the beginning of that period, have been extremely difficult. We hope everybody has been or will be made whole and can finally put this ridiculousness behind them.
*That shouldn’t be interpreted to mean that we have forgotten about the heads of Full Tilt who thought it would be a good idea to use customer deposits and replace them with IOU’s, a la Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. But the government could have made things so much easier. In related news, remember Chris “Jesus” Ferguson? He used to be popular.
A claims administrator has finally been named to begin processing US Full Tilt player refund requests. In a press release earlier today, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara announced that Garden City Group (“GCG”) will handle player request brought forth by the civil actions brought against Full Tilt back in April 2011.
According to Bharara, “The Garden City Group brings a track record of handling the administration of some of the country’s largest and most complicated settlements. With their selection, we take a significant step forward in the process of compensating victims of the Full Tilt Poker scheme.”
Check Refund Status
Garden City Group is a bankruptcy and class action settlement administration company and has been in business for close to 30 years. Some of the cases that they have worked on include the Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust case and WorldCom Securities litigation,
A website has been setup for those wishing to file a claim for their Full Tilt funds. Former players can head over to www.fulltiltpokerclaims.com where they can read a summary on the settlement between PokerStars and the US Department of Justice and also register for email notifications about the claims process. The process is said to begin shortly and once the process begins, players can file Petitions for Remission through the website electronically.
After close to two years, it appears that the process of players to receive their funds will shortly be underway. Now the question remains whether players will be able to recoup all of their former bankrolls or just a portion.