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Through its official Twitter, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) announced that the Garden City Group (GCG), which had been tasked to coordinate the reimbursement process of US FTP players, would launch the transfer of a total of $82 million.
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One of the most publicized and debated issue of online poker lately has been that of Full Tilt: the company was purchased by PokerStars in the summer of 2012 and they agreed to compensate all players for their money stuck on their FTP accounts. FTP was consequently re-launched in November the same year and non-American users got instantly reimbursed. However, the case of US players was handled by the Department of Justice (DoJ), using the money provided by PokerStars.
In March 2013, the DoJ stroke an agreement with the Garden City Group (GCG) and tasked them to coordinate the compensation of American users. First, they processed all available data, for which they required all affected players to register in their system and file their claims for reimbursement.
As of October 2013, only 23,500 users registered, an almost insignificant number compared to the total estimated of 1.4 million US citizens involved. Despite ample flow of information and support, the majority failed to heed the call; most likely, they had small enough amounts stuck on their accounts not to bother undergoing the lengthy reimbursement procedure. Some even argued that it was precisely the aim of the DoJ and the GCG to discourage users able to spare the money in question from claiming it back, so that they can pay out less, notwithstanding the fact that PokerStars did indeed cover the full estimated cost.
This week, the latest update arrived: the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) tweeted that the GCG had processed the claims and approved the transfer of a total of $82 million to about 30,000 players.
“This is great news for players with undisputed funds. Tens of millions of dollars will be returned to these players within weeks and it has been a long time coming. There are still many players who’s FTP claims have not been resolved and we will continue to seek swift resolution on their behalf,” PPA head John Pappas commented.
According to PPA, many players made mistakes filling out the GCG form; therefore, they do not get reimbursed this time. Rather, they are notified via e-mail of the correct steps to fill the form and will be compensated thereafter.
“Players with undisputed claims should be looking for an email from Garden City Group within the next few weeks with instructions on how to receive their payment. The DoJ could not provide me with a definitive date on when these emails will go out and when payments will be processed. But it looks like it will be in advance of their March 31 deadline,” Pappas added later on the 2+2 forum.