The repayment of former Full Tilt Poker customers in the United States is not imminent by any means, but at the very least, it looks like a baby step has been taken in the right direction. On Tuesday, the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Southern District of New York provided an update on the ongoing case, saying that potential Claims Administrators are currently being evaluated.
In August, the USAO posted an employment notice for a Claims Administrator for the Full Tilt case. The Administrator would be enlisted to “…obtain and evaluate information, such as financial transaction records, from claimants, and analyze information contained in user account records provided in database and other format by Full Tilt Poker.”
Applicants are required to detail their claims administration experience and relevant expertise as well as share with the USAO any possible conflicts of interests they may have that could affect their independence.
The U.S. government estimates that around 1.3 million former American customers are owed a total of $159 million. That money is coming from PokerStars, which acquired the assets of Full Tilt Poker in a settlement with the U.S. government at the end of July. PokerStars is paying $547 million to the U.S., a sum from which the player repayments will come. Another $184 million is going to non-U.S. customers, bringing the total deal to $731 million.
While “rest of world” customers were able to login to their old Full Tilt Poker accounts when the poker room re-launched two weeks ago and retrieve their formerly lost funds, United States customers are left waiting for the government to cut checks. It is understandably a huge job and also understandably, the government needs to take its time to select the right Claims Administrator. But the longer it takes, the more frustrating it gets.
Last week, representatives of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) met with officials from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Division to discuss the progress of player repayments. PPA Executive Director John Pappas reported back, saying that while it was a “cordial and productive meeting,” there was not much good news to relay. He said, in part:
Unfortunately, completion of a refund claims process is a long way away. The first step in this process will be the Department’s hiring of a third-party claims administrator, after a bidding process: there is no current date certain for that selection to occur. But it was evident that even when a claims administrator is hired, forfeiture and remission procedures require that a substantial administrative process be adhered to before players begin seeing their funds.
It may be a coincidence, but Tuesday’s update from the USAO indicated that a Claims Administrator will be selected and will begin work in January 2013. So while that’s still a couple months away, at least the timeframe for that step is now known.
