PokerStars has announced details of how they plan to repay the $180 million owed to Full Tilt account holders. It has been nearly 17 months since Black Friday and the downfall of Full Tilt poker. In the months after Black Friday details of Full Tilt’s finances became public and many poker players never thought they’d see their money again. Fast forward to May 2025 and the announcement that PokerStars purchased Full Tilt’s assets and there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Now we have details of how PokerStars plans to repay the millions of dollars owed to non-US players with Full Tilt accounts. Plus they announced that Full Tilt Poker will re-launch at the beginning of May.
In their press release PokerStars said that
PokerStars has been working with regulators in all relevant jurisdictions to ensure that repayment is
conducted in strict compliance with local regulatory requirements that ensure the security of player
accounts and confirmation of the rightful ownership of those accounts
Depending on your country of residence, PokerStars in their statement outlined how the repayment will work:
- France, Spain, Denmark, Estonia and Belgium: In order to comply with local regulations,
former Full Tilt Poker players will be repaid through the locally-licensed PokerStars platform.
Players will 'pair' a PokerStars account with their Full Tilt account allowing them to withdraw
or use their balances on the licensed PokerStars site. - In Italy, PokerStars is working with regulators to determine the appropriate process to ensure
compliance with local regulations. Those details will be announced as soon as possible.
For any other non-US market players will be able to log into their Full Tilt poker account when the site is relaunched in the beginning of May.
For US players they will not be involved in this process, it is reported that the DOJ is lining up a third party to facilitate the payments for US players with outstanding balances. However at this time no further details have been provided as to when that might occur.
If six months ago you asked a poker player with a balance at Full Tilt whether they thought they’d see those funds again, a majority would have told you it was gone for good. But thankfully that’s not the case. At the time of Black Friday PokerStars and Full Tilt were number one and two in the world. The way that both have come out of all of this truly shows who was and still is the best poker room in the world. PokerStars should be commended for the way that they’ve handled the entire situation and bailed out their once biggest rival.
