NEW YORK (AP) The owner and operator of the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands is selling itself to Amaya Gaming Group Inc. in a $4.9 billion deal that is part of its plan to hopefully return to the U.S. market after a dustup with federal authorities three years ago.
PokerStars and Full Tilt ran into some trouble in April 2011 when the U.S government seized their websites and charged executives at the companies and people that move money for them with fraud and money laundering. In July 2012 PokerStars reached a settlement with the Justice Department in which it agreed to pay the government $547 million over three years. At the time the company said that the money was to be used in part to reimburse former U.S. customers of Full Tilt Poker, whose assets PokerStars had acquired.
Tiltware, a California-based company, owns all the Full Tilt Poker entities. Absolute Poker co-owner Brent Beckley pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to break U.S. Laws against gambling on. Although Full Tilt has new ownership in Groupe Bernard Tapie, it is plainly evident that there is still a long road ahead for the embattled online poker site before it could ever be reactivated.
Amaya said late Thursday it believes the acquisition will expedite the entry of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker into regulated markets in which it already has a footprint, especially the U.S. Amaya makes gaming machines and systems, and says the PokerStars business is complementary with little overlap.
Internet gambling in U.S. has been off to a slower than anticipated start, with experts saying that it is being held back by illegal offshore operators who are continuing to draw users and siphon off millions of dollars. The first legal online U.S. poker company opened a little over a year ago. Since that time the industry's growth has been slowed by several factors, such as technical hurdles and laws limiting players to the three states - New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware - where Internet gambling is legal.
Who Owns Full Tilt Poker Chairs
Still, experts believe that there is plenty of room for growth for online gambling in the U.S.
PokerStars and Full Tilt are owned by Isle of Man-based Rational Group Ltd., whose parent company is privately held Oldford Group Ltd.
Canada's Amaya said the deal with Oldford will make it the biggest publicly traded online operator of casino games.
Justin Kew of Cantor Fitzgerald Canada said in a client note that the transaction is a 'watershed acquisition' for Amaya that will increase its revenue and adjusted earnings by more than eight times. The analyst tripled Amaya's price target to $25.50 Canadian dollars ($23.49) from $8.50 Canadian dollars ($7.83). He reaffirmed a 'Buy' rating.
PokerStars - the world's biggest online poker website - and Full Tilt Poker have more than 85 million registered players on desktop and mobile devices. Online poker services provided by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker will not be affected by the transaction.
The boards of Amaya and Oldford unanimously approved the deal. Amaya doesn't anticipate making any changes to its board related to the transaction.
The deal is expected to close by Sept. 30. It needs the approval of Amaya shareholders, who will vote at its rescheduled annual meeting, now set for July 30.
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- »PokerStars Retiring Full Tilt Poker Brand on February 25
February 25 marks the end of an era. PokerStars is retiring the Full Tilt Poker Brand.
Full Tilt Poker launched in 2004 only three years after PokerStars hit the online poker world. Its team contained some of the game’s biggest names. Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow, Erik Seidel, and others put their names to the site.
The slick, colorful software was the best in the business, and still is to this day. Full Tilt Poker garnered plenty of interest from its inception and became the second-largest online poker site in the world.
“Learn, chat, and play with the pros” was the slogan used by the booming online site. The slogan worked judging by the tens of thousands of players who chose Full Tilt Poker for their online poker grind.
The site was the home to the games biggest cash games. Rail Heaven, with its $500/$1,000 blinds, became a fan favorite. Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, and Tom Dwan battled it out for massive pots day in, day out.
Black Friday: The Demise of Full Tilt Poker
Black Friday hit the online poker world like a wrecking ball on April 15, 2011. It hit Full Tilt Poker harder than any other operator out there. The site raked in millions of dollars every day, yet it found itself in a monumental financial hole.
Gross mismanagement left the company’s bank balances in the red to the tune of $390 million. Full Tilt Poker had $60 million cash but player balances totalled $390 million. Some $150 million of that ridiculous sum belonged to players in the United States.
The site tried and failed, to reassure it would make good on player deposits. Mass panic ensued, and the rate of withdrawals far outweighed money coming in. The site lost its gambling licence. It looked dead in the water.
PokerStars to the Rescue: Buys Full Tilt Poker Assets and Debts
Who Owns Full Tilt Poker
PokerStars came to the rescue in July 2012 when it acquired the assets and debts of the fallen giant. The U.S. government received $547 million, and PokerStars paid the $184 million owed to non-US players. It paid the balances to American customers, although the U.S. government made that process complicated.
Full Tilt Poker relaunched in November 2012 but failed to reach the dizzy heights of its heyday. PokerStars merged with Full Tilt Poker, the latter became a skin of PokerStars. Both sites shared the same traffic, but Full Tilt Poker players enjoyed that famous software.
Famous Brand Fully Retires on February 25
The famous, perhaps infamous, Full Tilt Poker brand ceases to exist from February 25. This is the date PokerStars finally puts its one-time biggest rival to bed. A statement in PokerStars’ FAQ section gives reasons for the impending closure.
“Our commitment to improving PokerStars software and the PokerStars customer experience in recent years has limited the amount of focus and resources we could apply to the evolution of Full Tilt. We feel it is time to consolidate brands so that everyone has access to the newest features and most innovative games which are available exclusively on PokerStars.”
Who Owns Full Tilt Poker Download
Anyone hoping to get their hands on the retired site’s software will be disappointed because it’s not for sale. PokerStars could charge tens of millions of dollars for the software, but it retiring it instead.
Doing so is a shame for the consumer, yet understandable from a business aspect. PokerStars’ software has undergone several major updates of late but some argue it’s still not as good as the software it’s binning. Selling to a rival operator who then updates and refines it would be bad business for PokerStars.
Who Owns Full Tilt Poker Games
PokerStars says the software is going into a vault, but Flutter Entertainment owns PokerStars. We wonder if the parent company will have other ideas when it realises it’s sitting on a goldmine.