EU Site for Full Tilt in “Next Few Weeks”

An alternative Full Tilt Poker site, hosted in Malta with a license from the LGA, is expected to go live in the next few weeks, a Full Tilt representative has announced.

Full Tilt’s sister site PokerStars debuted PokerStars.EU in February 2012. The Maltese-licensed site, which is otherwise identical to PokerStars.com, is used as a platform for players in certain European countries to eliminate tax liabilities from gambling winnings.

Currently, players from Sweden, Finland, Poland, Slovenia, Romania, the Netherlands and Germany have been moved onto the PokerStars EU platform, and the same can be expected when Full Tilt rolls out its equivalent offering.

Other than the license, the player experience is unchanged; the player pool, games and features available are identical.

According to certain interpretations of income tax law in some EU jurisdictions, winnings from sites based within the European Economic Area (EEA) are tax free. Although geographically in Europe, the Isle of Man—where Rational Group has its head offices and operates the primary sites for both PokerStars and FTP—is not part of the EEA.

The interpretation was bolstered in Sweden when the Swedish Tax Authority lead a coordinated campaign against online poker players for unpaid winnings. Letters sent to players requested a full audit history of their play, but only on sites outside the EEA.

In a February update on poker forum 2+2, FTP Poker Room Manager Shyam Markus stated that a release this week laid “the groundwork” for an EU launch, adding “We expect to begin rolling .eu out over the next few weeks.”

The introduction of FullTiltPoker.EU could lead to a noticeable bump in numbers, as players from Scandinavian countries will now be encouraged to try out the relaunched site without penalty.

Correction: Original article incorrectly stated PokerStars.EU went live in February 2011, not 2012.