French Group Reaches Deal For Full Tilt Poker

The French investment group bidding for Full Tilt Poker finally reached an agreement with the US Justice Department that will allow it to take control of the controversial online poker operator, an attorney for the group said Thursday.

The Agreement

Under the agreement, US poker players still owed $150 million by the poker site could seek compensation through the Justice Department. While this is good news for players, it is believed by sources in the poker industry that this does not guarantee them their money back.

Groupe Bernard Tapie will purchase Full Tilt Poker for $80 million and will re-launch the brand in Europe. However, this will cost the group only around half of the cost of purchasing FTP, as the Justice Department agreed to hand it a large portion - believed to be in the ballpark of $40 million - of the money seized by authorities during Black Friday.

More Good News

In other great news, it seems the DoJ agreed to allow Full Tilt Poker to seek a poker site operators license in the US in the event (in the hopefully not-too-distant future) that the sport is legalized in the country. It is believed neither PokerStars nor Absolute Poker, the other poker sites indicted on Black Friday, have struck such deals.

FTP attorney Jeff Ifrah said Groupe Bernard Tapie would still need to follow US regulatory procedures to obtain a license, but added that the deal "is good for poker, good for the industry and good for the players."