Full Tilt Poker Updates USA Players, Still No Date for Refunds

Full Tilt Poker has once again released updates on the status of their attempts to refund money to American players, but has yet to announce a firm date for when they expect to begin returning funds.

The updates, sent by email to players and posted on the FAQ page for American players on the FTP site, did give some answers to a few of the questions being asked by USA poker players. All tickets and tournament dollars will be translated to cash on a dollar for dollar basis, meaning players will get full value for non-monetary entries in their accounts. Ring Game Tickets will be treated similarly, assuming they had expiration dates of later than April 15. Players will also keep their Black Card and Iron Man statuses in perpetuity, with players being able to pick up if and when they are able to resume playing on the site.

However, there was still no word on exactly when players could expect to receive their account balances. American players have been awaiting refunds from Full Tilt Poker ever since the Black Friday events of April 15 ended the site’s ability to accept online poker players from the United States. While Full Tilt Poker reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice that would allow them to return funds to USA players just days later, they have yet to begin processing payments. In contract, PokerStars has already announced that they have processed over $100 million in withdrawals to American players seeking their account balances back.

The Full Tilt Poker US Player FAQ lists the following as their official statement on US withdrawals:

“Since April 15th and the days immediately following, Full Tilt Poker faced numerous challenges and hurdles to ensuring the smooth operation of its international business and the orderly return of US player funds. FTP has worked tirelessly to address these issues and has made significant progress on both fronts. FTP's international business operations are returning to normal while we focus on ensuring the safe and orderly return of US player funds. We are absolutely committed to making sure that US players are refunded as soon as possible. We apologize for the delay and the fact that we underestimated the time it would take to work through these issues. We will update our US players when we have more specific information to provide.”