Ex-Full Tilt Poker’s US Players Share a Total of $76 Million Compensation

Former Full Tilt Poker’s online players get $76 million back, as compensation from their lost back in 2011.

Last week was a lucky one for around 27,500 US poker players, as it was announced that they will be compensated with $76 million for their accounts, which were frozen in 2011, due to the case against the US online poker room.

The Poker Players Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group, expressed their satisfaction with the lucky outcome, but didn’t forget to mention that there are still “several thousand” ex-Full Tilt Poker’s players in the country, who are also expecting their money.

John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, commented that there are between $50- $60 million in unclaimed or unclear funds, which have to be distributed in the future.

Full Tilt story

Full Tilt had rather rough past, which led to freezing the accounts of its clients. On 15th April 2011 the USA federal authorities pressed charges against it, along with PokerStars and Absolute Poker, taking away their licenses, according to US gambling laws.

The three gambling sites were accused of breaking the federal laws against online gambling, by misleading banks and credit card issuers to process payments for US players. Ever since then, the date of the shutdown is referred to as the “Black Friday”.

Eventually in 2012, the Justice Department announced a settlement for $731 million and PokerStars bought Full Tilt Poker. Raymond Bitar, the former CEO of Full Tilt Poker, pleaded guilty in 2013, to several charges. However, despite the impressive prison sentence, he was released due to health issues.