Online poker operator PokerStars has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain control of former industry rival Full Tilt Poker for approximately $731 million, according to government documents.

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According to the documentation, PokerStars will forfeit $547 million to the government, while Full Tilt Poker will forfeit virtually all of its assets to the goverment, which will in turn give those assets to PokerStars.

Under the terms of the PokerStars settlement agreement, PokerStars will return $184 million (the full amount owed) to foreign players by Full Tilt Poker. American players will be able to file claims with the Department of Justice to get reimbursed. The money that is used to reimburse victims in the United States will come from the forfeited $547 million.

Poker Stars and Full Tilt's were among the domains seized by the DOJ on April 15, 2011, which has come to be known in the poker industry as 'Black Friday.' On that date, indictments were unsealed against 11 individuals affiliated with major online poker platforms and their payment processors, with charges including bank fraud and money laundering. Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker both immediately left the U.S. market, with Full Tilt ceasing operations in June 2011 as their license to operate was suspended. Full Tilt player funds have been frozen since that time.

Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar was arrested after voluntarily surrendering on July 2. Bitar was released on bail eight days later.

As part of the settlement, Bitar, Howard Lederer, Rafe Furst, Chris Ferguson and Nelson Burtnick are prohibited from being employed by PokerStars in the future. The settlement also prohibits former PokerStars CEO Isai Scheinberg from serving in a management or director role in any PokerStars company.

'PokerStars does not admit to any wrongdoing and is explicitly permitted to apply to relevant U.S. gaming authorities to offer real money online poker when state of federal governments introduce regulation,' said PokerStars in a statement.

According to the settlement, charges against PokerStars will be dismissed upon the first of three payments from PokerStars to the Department of Justice.

'Upon the first payment [$225 million] and subject to the terms of Paragraph 7, the in rem forfeiture action against the PokerStars Defendant Property and the civil money-laundering claims against the PokerStars Companies shall be dismissed with prejudice. Accordingly, this Stipulation and Order of Settlement fully and finally resolves this action as to the PokerStars companies and the PokerStars Defendant Property.'

The PokerStars press release goes on to state that 'PokerStars plans to re-launch Full Tilt Poker in most markets as a separate brand, following the appointment of a new, independent management team.'

'It's a tremendous, tremendous deal,' said Jeff Ifrah, an outside counsel who represented Full Tilt Poker in negotiations with the DOJ. 'This was a dream opportunity, given the hand we were dealt, that hand specifically being a company that had over $330 million of debt owed to poker players around the world.

'It was tremendously difficult as you could imagine to find the right buyer who would appreciate the industry and appreciate the value of the asset and on top of all of that, who would pay the poker players ….' Ifrah said. 'PokerStars was truly the only potential candidate to appreciate the value of the Full Tilt asset and the impact that the Full Tilt deal would have on the poker community. Because of those factors, Poker Stars was really the only candidate who could step up and do this thing. To actually attain their encouragement and get them involved and have the DOJ's help in putting together this deal … it's really miraculous.'

And added:
'The objective, and part of my marching orders, was to get all of the players paid back. Obviously, there was a big focus on U.S. players … This was a situation that hurt people in a lot of ways throughout the year. A lot of folks who had a lot of money tied up or some folks without as much tied up which would have meant a lot to them … I think the future is looking bright for their reimbursement now.'

COMPARISON VIDEO

ROUND BY ROUND

ROUND1Bonuses & Promotions

Both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars have 100% deposit bonus programs up to $600. At both sites the bonuses are pretty reasonable in terms of having to clear the necessary points to unlock the bonus money. In addition, both sites give at least three months to clear the bonus, so they both get a big thumbs up in this department.

ROUND 1 WINNER:

ROUND2Software

Both sites are constantly renovating their software and lobby to make the software experience one that players will enjoy. There are never lag issues with PokerStars while some report some issues with Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt's recent upgrade shored up a lot of previous lag issues and introduced a new powerful lobby system with custom widgets. Both sites have a ton of custom filters for ring games and tournaments and straight-forward and easy-to-use table controls. In addition, there are plenty of table and card mods available for a customized experience. For players that like a graphically rich experience with all the bells and whistles, Full Tilt Poker wins out with the software.

ROUND 2 WINNER:

ROUND3Traffic

Full Tilt Poker Net

PokerStars has the biggest traffic, by far, in the industry and are the undisputed #1 poker site when it comes to the amount of players it has in its pool. Full Tilt Poker is in second, again by a wide distance as compared to the third largest poker site (iPoker Network). According to PokerScout.com, PokerStars' last six months has seen steady traffic while Full Tilt Poker has gained about 35-40% more traffic during the same timeframe. Both rank as 'A' level poker sites in terms of traffic.

ROUND 3 WINNER:

ROUND4Tournaments

Both sites have tournaments starting literally every single second of the day. Because of the large player pools, tons of multi-table tournaments and one table Sit & Gos are always running. Full Tilt Poker runs a popular tournament series in the FTOPS and MiniFTOPS series, while PokerStars counters with the SCOOP and WCOOP tournament series. Both sites have lots of destination satellite events as well as big guarantee tournaments on Sundays. You can't go wrong at either site

ROUND 4 WINNER:

ROUND5Ring Games

Both sites have tournaments starting literally every single second of the day. Because of the large player pools, tons of multi-table tournaments and one table Sit & Gos are always running. Full Tilt Poker runs a popular tournament series in the FTOPS and MiniFTOPS series, while PokerStars counters with the SCOOP and WCOOP tournament series. Both sites have lots of destination satellite events as well as big guarantee tournaments on Sundays. You can't go wrong at either site

ROUND 5 WINNER:

ROUND6Games

Full Tilt Poker offers a nice variety of poker games including HO, HORSE, HEROS, HOSE, RAZZ and Omaha games on top of all the various Hold'em games available. PokerStars does offer more in terms of a variety of games including 5 Card Draw, Badugi, HORSE, HEROS, HOSE, Mixed Games, Razz, Single Draw Lowball 2-7 and Triple Draw Lowball 2-7.

ROUND 6 WINNER:

ROUND7Deposit/Withdrawal Options

Both sites offer credit card depositing in addition to accepting wire transfers from US players (Western Union and/or Moneygram). Both sites offer Instant eCheck, Cash Transfer and Click2Pay methods of deposit. For withdrawal on Full Tilt, they can issue a premium bank wire, bank transfer or a paper check which is guaranteed to arrive within 15 days. PokerStars players can withdrawal via paper check or receive a special circumstance wire transfer if requested through customer service (large amounts only)

ROUND 7 WINNER:

ROUND8VIP Program

PokerStars has one of the better VIP programs for regular players. As you accumulate VIP points, your VIP level goes up which includes a FPP multiplier for more spendable FPP points. These points can be used for items in the store, tournament entries or cash bonuses. At Full Tilt Poker there's the Iron Man promotion which awards points for daily grinding which turn into medals. These medals can be used for cash bonuses or items in the special store but carry a lot less value than FPPs at PokerStars. However, Full Tilt has 'Full Tilt Points' which can be used to buy into tournaments or items from the store (no cash though).

ROUND 8 WINNER:

ROUND9Support

There's no comparison here at all as PokerStars receives some of the best marks for customer service in the industry. Full Tilt Poker, on the other side of the coin, receives some of the worst. It's unfortunate that both sites only offer e-mail as a method for contacting customer support (no chat or phone). Nevertheless, PokerStars returns customer support emails very quickly (sometimes in as little as an hour) while Full Tilt Poker is a roll of the dice and can be a matter of hours to days.

Full Tilt Poker Vs Pokerstars Online

ROUND 9 WINNER:

PokerStarsVSFull Tilt PokerWHO WINS?

Full Tilt Poker Vs Pokerstars Free

The good news is that you really can't go wrong here with either site. The general consensus is that PokerStars has a better player pool but because it's so big has more fish. Full Tilt Poker might have less players but a greater proportion of their players are bad. It's give and take but if customer service and a large player pool are important to you go with PokerStars. If finding the worst of the two sites' competition is important and you like swanky lobby software, go with Full Tilt Poker. Keep in mind, there's no reason not to join both!

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FINAL SCORE414