The effects of Black Friday, which disrupted the U.S. online poker industry more than three years ago, are still being experienced in the poker community.
Most of the allocated player funds from Full Tilt Poker have been returned by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and their hired payment processing firm, the Garden City Group (GCG). However, many former Full Tilt Poker players are still waiting for their refunds, including the over 150 players who were sponsored professionals.
However, their wait seems to be over following an announcement this week.
The latest remissions
This week, the Garden City Group announced another release of player balances, referred to as professional players (or “Red Pros” in our terms), from Full Tilt Poker.
The Red Pros, who were players sponsored by the site without any shares, were distinctly differentiated from Team Full Tilt Poker Pros, who were shareholders. The latter group was specifically excluded by the GCG and hence, will not be eligible to file a petition.
The website fulltiltpokerclaims.com reported that the GCG notified players in this category on August 4th that they can now file a remission. They have approximately one month to complete this task.
If you believe you belong to this new category and were not informed, you can submit a remission petition. You could be eligible to receive any funds that were not obtained as affiliate payments or direct payments from Full Tilt Poker. All petitions must be submitted by September 3rd, 2014.
It has been decided that “professional” players, as identified by Full Tilt Poker (FTP), excluding Team Full Tilt Players, can apply for Remission to reclaim the part of their account balance that isn’t linked to compensation from FTP or Affiliate revenue. If you fall under the category of a professional player, you can file a Petition for the part of your account balance connected to poker transactions, provided you fulfill the eligibility requirements.
GCG issued Notices on August 4, 2014, to particular Petitioners that FTP identified as professional players. These Notices contained details and guidelines for engaging in the Petition process. If you have received a Notice via email, ensure to utilize the login details provided in the Notice when starting the Petition process.
Professional players must submit their Petition for Remission by September 3, 2014.
The remission payments to Red Pros and other professionals are expected to be few, with approximately 150 players identified as Red Pros. However, the amount should be substantial, given that these individuals were among the site’s highest volume grinders.
Previous remissions
In February, the GCG sent out the initial and largest batch of remission checks, amounting to approximately $76 million, to 27,500 former U.S. Full Tilt Poker players. The first payments were made to players who had undisputed accounts and had correctly filed their claims.
In March/April, an additional 2,200 players received their remission checks, adding up to another $5 million. The recipients were also players with uncontested accounts, but this group included those who had submitted a claim with incorrect details – for instance, inaccuracies in the address, social security number, or email. Most of these errors probably occurred on GCG’s end when the information was being entered into the system.
In May, a month later, a third round of remission payments was distributed to an additional 3,500 ex-FTP players. This payment batch amounted to $15 million and was sent to individuals with contested claims or players who had been mistakenly identified as affiliates, when they were merely receiving rakeback payments from an affiliate.
The Garden City Group has issued remission payments to a total of 33,000 players, amounting to approximately $96 million in all.
Missing funds
If the latest batch is not significantly large, there will likely be a substantial difference between the total amount believed to be owed to former U.S. Full Tilt Poker players, which is estimated at $150 million, and the amount that the GCG has actually paid out.
Concerns about what will happen to these additional funds have always existed in the poker community, leading to a lot of speculation and even some conspiracy theories.
Much of the missing funds are likely due to players with minor balances ranging from $50-$100 who chose not to file a claim or didn’t follow up on inaccuracies in their filing (I myself fall into the latter group). A lesser portion of the unclaimed money probably belongs to players who have quit poker and are unaware of the ongoing remission process, as well as players who prefer to avoid government attention.
