Full Tilt Affiliates Will be Able to Apply for Remissions

This week there was a small turnaround as to just who will be eligible to receive refunds for frozen Full Tilt Poker accounts.

Previously part of a group that is barred from making a claim on funds that have been frozen since the United States government shut down the site in April of 2011 amid a crackdown on offshore gambling companies offering unregulated real money online poker to U.S.-based players, affiliates who helped market the site will now be allowed to recover at least some portion of their accounts.

Only funds associated with play can be refunded

According to an update posted on the official Full Tilt remission page on Friday by the government-appointed administrator of the process, New Jersey-based Garden City Group, accounts held by affiliates of the poker room will also be able to apply for repayment of their funds. The refunds, however, will be limited to player money only.

It is common practice for affiliates to be paid directly for their work into their poker room accounts, however Friday’s statement confirms that money derived from affiliate services will not be considered during the remission process.

Read the statement, “It has been determined that Affiliates of Full Tilt Poker (“FTP”) will be able to submit Petitions for Remission to recover the portion of their account balances that does not relate to their Affiliate status. Affiliate accounts have been flagged as such because the player signed up with FTP as an Affiliate.”

“If you are an Affiliate, you will be able to submit a Petition for the portion of your account balance that relates to poker transactions, as long as you meet the eligibility criteria,” the statement went on.

Those with questions relating to the process or their eligibility were directed to an FAQ section.

Excluded groups were miffed

Players who had funds on Full Tilt Poker when it was shuttered by the U.S. Justice Department more than two years ago have, for some time, been complaining of the long wait for the refund process to get underway.

PokerStars, the now-owner for Full Tilt Poker, settled its own case with the United States government in the summer of 2012 without admitting to any wrongdoing, though it too continued to operate real money U.S. online poker games after 2006 and the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

At the same time the company reached a $731 million settlement with the United States, it assumed the assets and debts of its former chief rival Full Tilt. PokerStars repaid accountholders in regulated markets outside of the U.S. in full when it re-launched the Full Tilt brand last fall in European online poker markets.

For months, rumors circulated that it could have been at least two more years of waiting for the so-called “victim players” who had money on Full Tilt. Though the wait turned out to be considerably shorter, certain groups that were immediately disqualified from recovering their accounts took to online poker forums to complain.

Those who were precluded from receiving reimbursement include employees of Full Tilt, team pro players, payment processors, and others closely linked to the day-to-day operations of the site.

About a month remains to file a claim

For those players – and now affiliates – who have yet to file a claim for remission, the deadline to file remains November 16. Applications can be filed via the Full Tilt claims web site set up by the GCG.

Earlier this month, the Garden City Group announced that it had finished sending out email notifications to accountholders in Full Tilt’s database. Players who did not receive such notification are still encourage to visit the remission site to submit an application. According to the GCG, all applications will be given equal consideration.

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Thursday, November 21st, 2013 Written by Lucy Brown