When Absolute Poker and UltimateBet disappeared on April 15th, 2011 – best known in the poker world as Black Friday – it seemed as if all of our deposits with the two poker rooms had disappeared, as well. But six years later, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that there was money left over from the Full Tilt Poker reimbursements to start paying Absolute Poker and UltimateBet players. Surprise! And just over a week ago, the first wave of payments hit players’ bank accounts.
I will admit that I am a little late on reporting this, but it hasn’t been my day to write for this site for several days and I actually didn’t check my bank account until late last week, anyway, to even see the direct deposits that were made. I am not happy that it took nearly six and a half years for my money to be recovered, but at the same time, I am certainly not upset that I have it now.
When you hunt for the deposit, look for a line reading something like, “DOJ ABSOLUTE FD ABSFUNDPAY.” I don’t know for sure if every bank will list it the same way, but I’m guessing they will. If you submitted a claim for both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, they will be deposited separately.
The deadline to file what the Claims Administrator, the Garden City Group, calls a Petition for Remission was a month ago, but if you forgot about it, it is still possible to file a claim. You will need to go to the website AbsolutePokerClaims.com and click on the “Online Filing Page” link.
From there, you will need to login with a Petition Number and Control Number that was e-mailed by the Garden City Group. Never fear if you don’t have it, though (I didn’t), as you can still accomplish the same thing with your old Absolute Poker login information.
The rest is academic; it’s a matter of entering and/or verifying personal information like your name, phone number, address, etc. After that is all entered, your poker balance will be displayed. Odds are, if you haven’t filed a claim until now, you also probably won’t know if that amount is correct (it likely is – though Absolute Poker stole our money, they did keep records that were accurate as far as anyone can tell), so just accept the figure if you don’t want to go through a ton of hassle. From there, it’s just a matter a quick eligibility checklist and providing an electronic signature.
Because the Garden City Group has moved on to disputed claims, you will have to wait your turn for who knows how long, but fortunately, the entire process for the first wave of payments only took a bit over five months from initial petition to final payment. And that was likely by far the biggest chunk of claims.
When your claim is finally approved, you will receive an e-mail that will instruct you to go back to the site and enter your bank account information so you can get your money. Assuming you entered the correct info, you should receive your money in four to six weeks.