When Full Tilt Poker shutdown in the United States it owed US poker players approximately $159 million in outstanding payments. The sudden exit of Full Tilt Poker from the US market shocked thousands of American poker players who had not withdrawn their winnings. As the months passed, most of the poker players gave up hope and did not expect to get any of their money back.
However after a long drawn out legal process, US poker players were informed to file their claims with the Garden City Group who were given the responsibility of overseeing the reimbursement process to former Full Tilt Poker players. Players filed their claims in 2013 mentioning their outstanding amount. These claims were cross-check before the reimbursement process was initiated by the Garden City Group.
US poker players have slowly but surely been receiving their payments throughout 2014 and the Garden City Group has confirmed that over $100 million has been paid out to ex- Full Tilt Poker Players. During the first week of June, the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section sanctioned another $4.3 million to be reimbursed to poker players. Most of this money will go to the section of ex- Full Tilt Poker players who had disputes regarding their account balances with Full Tilt Poker.
The Garden City Group released a statement on its website which read
After this round of payments, we will have paid approximately 87 percent of all petitions filed. GCG continues to work with the Department of Justice to evaluate the balance of the petitions that have been filed. Petitions that are found to be valid will be paid in upcoming distributions. GCG and the DOJ expect to distribute additional payments by the end of the third quarter of 2015.
Ever since Canadian based Amaya Gaming acquired Full Tilt Poker, the company has been focused on rebuilding the image of Full Tilt Poker as a trustworthy and reliable online poker website. Amaya Gaming continues to remain hopeful that its Full Tilt Poker brand will be able to launch its online poker website in New Jersey before the end of 2015.
Authorities in the United States continue to have reservations about granting Full Tilt Poker an online poker license given its past reputation in the United States. However now that the old Full Tilt Poker website is in the process of completing all outstanding reimbursements and Amaya Gaming is running the new Full Tilt Poker website, US authorities have become more open in considering the possibility of licensing Full Tilt Poker once again in the United States.
