Full Tilt Poker to Expand to Online Casino Gaming

Full Tilt Poker is planning to expand and to offer a full out online casino gambling experience. Word of this expansion first surfaced on Online Poker Report as a rumor but was then confirmed in a statement made by The Rational Group, Full Tilt Poker's parent company.

The statement promised "more gaming options with the same high quality player experience"; it was also assured that PokerStars, another of Rational Group's brands, will remain as-is. This might signal that the addition of casino games to Full Tilt Poker is considered an experiment by Rational Group. No timetable was given by the company for this planned expansion.

A Return to the US Market

It has been speculated that Full Tilt Poker's name will be changed, perhaps by the switching of "Poker" in its name to "Gaming". Among some of the possible reasons which were brought up trying to decipher this move by Rational Group was one that speculated Full Tilt Poker might try to target the US market which is slowly regulating online gambling. The online poker room already operated in the US before until the Black Friday indictments in April 2011; it still owes debts to many US players nowadays, an estimated collective $184 million.

Are More Online Poker Rooms to Follow?

Seeing that Full Tilt Poker is a very popular, esteemed and influential online poker room, this expansion brings up an interesting question: if this move will be deemed a success, will other online poker rooms go in Full Tilt Poker's footsteps?