- The US Department of Justice has approved $82 million dollars of undisputed player funds owed to ex-US players of Full Tilt Poker.
- Players with undisputed claims should be looking for an email from Garden City Group within the next few weeks with instructions on how to receive their payment.
- GCG set itself the deadline of March 31 for undisputed claims.
The US Department of Justice has approved the repayment of $82 million dollars back to ex-US players of Full Tilt Poker.
Garden City Group (GCG), the Claims Administrator leading the repayment process, is now in charge of taking the next step: distributing these funds back to players.
The news was announced by player advocacy group the Poker Players Alliance via social media and forums late Wednesday.
“Good news. I spoke with AFMLS/DoJ staff today and they informed me that they have approved approximately 30,000 undisputed player claims,” wrote John Pappas, PPA’s executive director, on multiple community poker forums yesterday.
“Garden City should be making a formal announcement on its website, fulltiltpokerclaims.com, within the next 24 hours. Players with undisputed claims should be looking for an email from Garden City Group within the next few weeks with instructions on how to receive their payment.”
GCG set itself the deadline of March 31 for undisputed claims. It seems likely they will come in well under this target.
“The DoJ audited and approved the claims collected by GCG. The onus is now on GCG to remit the funds to players. I don’t know their payment process and it very well could be days, not weeks,” Pappas later wrote.
Payment is expected to be made via ACH deposits, as players entered in bank details when completing the petition process. GCG warned that a small number of the 30,000 undisputed petitions were filed incorrectly or incompletely. Emails will inform claimants as to any changes needed.
However, those who disputed the amount that GCG claimed they were owed will have to wait a while longer. There is still no deadline as to when these disputes will be processed.
“They are still working on those and hope more info will be available once the undisputed funds are released,” Pappas explained.
The question over FTP Pros and players flagged as affiliates remains unresolved. All players can file petitions and are instructed to wait for further information. Though the filing date for normal player accounts has now closed, late petitions will be considered.
Approximately $150m is estimated to be owed to US players following the closure of Full Tilt Poker; $82m represents slightly over half that figure.
