Believe it or not, not everyone is ecstatic over the fact that the Full Tilt remission process for U.S. players will calculate reimbursement by account balances as of April 15, 2011, the date on which the DoJ seized the domain and shut down the site to Americans.
By now most everyone has heard that the FTP repayment plan for U.S. players is set to get underway shortly. An announcement via www.fulltiltpokerclaims.com by the claims administration firm the Garden City Group (GCG) has revealed that all systems are go to commence accepting claims and paying U.S. players. Those players who have registered at the site dedicated to reimbursement will receive emails in due course on how to go about submitting claims.
Winning players no longer have to worry that the amount to be paid will be based on calculating only the deposits made by players. That rumor had been surfacing and had a number of successful poker players on edge and wondering if their hard work at beating their opponents on the virtual felt would all be for naught.
On the other hand, recreational and/or losing players who had been wishing for a calculation based on the amount deposited are out of luck. Many had been hoping that their losses would be recouped if the GCG and DoJ used a different format to calculate money owed than that of actual account balances.
A number of players have also been posting via online poker forums that withdrawal requests made in the week prior to Black Friday had not been honored. Several posters are concerned that those cashouts may be lost because their balances on April 15 may reflect the withdrawal requests but no checks had been forthcoming.
While the GCG has not yet addressed such issues, one would think that players could include the missing funds in their claim submissions. Having evidence of cashouts requested and not paid will likely be an area that the GCG must clarify once the remission process actually begins.
U.S. players expecting to receive reimbursement are advised to register for email notifications at www.fulltiltpokerclaims.com. Keep in mind that the turnaround time from submitting a claim to receiving payment is expected to be quite lengthy. So while it is good news that the remission process is progressing, don't count on that cash reaching your pockets until some time in 2014.
