PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have reached a deal with the Justice Department to reclaim the domain name and return the money to American players in exchange for blocking actual money play in the U.S. The deal came less than a week after the U.S. Department of Justice seized the domain name and indicted the owners of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker, the three largest online poker rooms that had been operating in the U.S.
According to a DOJ press release, the return of the domain “will facilitate the return of money so that players can register a refund request.”
Absolute Poker, which is not stopping Americans, was offered the same deal, but the DOJ press release was not accepted. Both PokerStars and Fultilit Poker blocked American players from playing real money within hours of the indictment.
“No player’s account has ever been frozen or restrained,” said Preet Bharara, a lawyer in Manhattan, in a press release. “Each involved poker company has always been free to repay the players’ deposited funds. In fact, the U.S. Department of Justice expects them to return the money that American players have entrusted to them, and we will work with poker companies to facilitate returning the funds to players.”
The agreement also explicitly allows the company to continue to offer poker games to players outside of the United States with real money.
However, it may still take some time for Americans to see the funds on their online poker accounts. 안전놀이터
“Unfortunately, there remain significant practical and legal obstacles to returning funds to players in the near future,” a press release from Full Tilt Focus said. “Due to recent actions in place, there are no authorized U.S. payment channels to issue refunds. Full Tilt Focus has no accounting for millions of dollars in player funds seized by the government, and the government has not agreed to allow any of the seized player funds to be returned to players.”