Just as poker players hopes of a deal between Full Tilt and the Bernard Tapie Groupe are dashed, news of another potential suitor, PokerStars, catches the poker industry by surprise. The rumoros started with a post on the popular poker forum 2+2 earlier today that has recieved over 300,000 views and 1800 posts. There was so much attention to the rumors that Eric Hollreiser Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars made this statement on the company blog:
With so many “inside sources” following the Full Tilt news and developments over the past year, it comes as a shock to pratically everyone in the industry that PokerStars have been having these discussions with the US DOJ. Information and details about the potential deal are scarce at this time so one can only speculate as to how close they are to a deal.
Bernard Tapie Deal Falls Through
For PokerStars to have the opportunity to buy Full Tilt, it meant that the previous negotations between Full Tilt and Groupe Bernard Tapie had to fail. Word of the failed deal became public today and more information is beginning to come to light. According to an article in MSNBC “they couldn’t agree with the Department of Justice over how quickly players with money tied up on the site would be repaid, a lawyer for the group said Tuesday. Benham Dayanim, a Washington-based attorney for Groupe Bernard Tapie, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that prosecutors changed their offer earlier this month and wanted players repaid in full within 90 days of the sale.”
It has been an eventful day in the Full Tilt saga that began with their indictment over one year ago. There’s enough material here for someone to write a movie. All we hope is that there’s a happy ending with players receiving their funds back!
We will continue to monitor the story as it develops
