Full Tilt's Poker Platform To Be Retired May 17

Amaya Gaming Group has announced that the merger of PokerStars and Full Tilt will happen on May 17, with the latter’s poker platform being retired permanently.

Amaya announced the plan in February. As of last year, the two sites had roughly 70 percent of the global online poker market, Amaya Gaming said during a quarterly earnings report. Though Full Tilt was still profitable from poker, its “market share has been in decline since its 2012 re-launch,” Amaya said earlier this year.

PokerStars acquired Full Tilt from the federal government in a 2012 settlement worth $731 million. Two years later, Amaya bought the combined company for $4.9 billion. The former CEO of Amaya is facing insider trading chargers stemming from that acquisition.

Thanks to the merger of the PokerStars and Full Tilt player pools, customers will now only have one account between the two sites, as well as for StarsDraft, BetStars and Duel. Full Tilt, which has other casino games in addition to poker, will still exist as a brand.

“In coming days, Full Tilt players will be emailed direct and personal information on how this will affect them specifically, which depends on a variety of factors including their jurisdiction and the status of their PokerStars account (if any),” Amaya said in a press release.

The merger will “make us more nimble as we can focus our technological innovation on one platform, rather than two, so we will be able to innovate more quickly and enter newly-regulating and existing markets swiftly,” Amaya said in February.

Amaya re-entered the U.S. market via New Jersey in March, and it has also been pushing for regulated online poker in California, and most recently, Michigan.

The Canadian gaming giant also recently hired a lobbyist on Capitol Hill to presumably fight against Sheldon Adelson’s efforts to ban online gaming nationwide.

Full Tilt, formerly Full Tilt Poker, was shut down by the federal government in 2011 after being accused of operating as a “global Ponzi scheme.” The remission process that is reuniting victims of Full Tilt Poker with their lost money is still ongoing. Since the remission process began in early 2014, roughly $112 million has been returned to victims of the site. According to the federal government, $159 million was stolen from Americans when the site was run by Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson and Rafe Furst.

Related Articles

Poker Player Perry Friedman Passes Away

Full Tilt Poker Officially Shutdown By Stars

Chris Ferguson Lambasted By Poker Community

Most Viewed Articles