As you may recall, we reported last issue of the acquisition of Full Tilt and PokerStars by Amaya Corp. On Aug. 1, the deal was completed. Now, the company has new ownership and can be in great shape to work in the United States again.
The previous issue of having the “bad actor” moniker attached to the company has been removed and with new blood at the helm, the road ahead is much straighter for the new company to begin a relationship with the U.S. market.
FULL TILT REFUNDS: Since Black Friday, pro online players deemed as non Team Full Tilt Pros, Red Letter Pros and all Team Full Tilt Pros were banned from getting any of their money refunded from the online giant.
Then when the payments were released to “regular” players, still none of the pros were allowed to apply for their funds.
But now, the Garden City Group, who is responsible for overseeing the payouts of the funds from the government, has announced that all non-Team Full Tilt pros, including Red Letter pros, can apply for refunds.
They had until Sept. 3 to file their petition. The GCG encourages all players who will be filing petitions to include any supporting documentation regarding their expected refund amount.
CALIFORNIA: The online poker bill that was backed by many Indian tribes and introduced to the California Legislature recently will not make it to the floor for a vote before the session ends this summer.
However, the sponsors and writers of the legislation are committed to getting it done when the next session opens in December. It looks as though it’s just a matter of time before California joins the online poker ranks of Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey.
Maybe the end of the year will be the beginning of the new online poker era for the state.
BALLY’S TECH SOLD FOR $5.1B: This is the second $1-billion-plus transaction that Scientific Games Corp. has made. This time, it bought all of the assets and debt of Bally’s Technologies.
This deal is expected to be finalized in early 2015 and will allow Scientific Games Corp. to have a much stronger presence on a worldwide basis.
There seems to be a trend forming of large mega companies merging in the gaming industry. Exciting times look to be ahead.
— Email Joel Gatlin at editor@anteupmagazine.com.
