Good news to American poker players came a couple days ago when the Department of Justice made a deal with Full Tilt and PokerStars, providing them access to their seized domain names. This would be done so that Americans could have the chance to withdraw their funds. Americans have been waiting for some news about the money in their accounts for days, so April 20’s news came as a huge relief.

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A press release from the US Attorney’s Office states that its action of freezing the accounts of these poker sites should not have prevented them from returning US funds. It might take some time for withdrawals to get underway and hit accounts, so both sites are asking their players to remain patient.

Subject to the terms and conditions contained herein PokerStars/Full Tilt grants the User a non-exclusive, personal, non-transferable right to install and use the Software on your PC or Device, as the case may be, in order to access our servers and play the 'play for free'/'play money' poker games (the 'Games') available (the Software and Games together being the 'Service'). Players’ funds and account balances are held in segregated accounts by us, and are not used for any operational expenses. These segregated accounts are managed by a leading European bank. This arrangement ensures that we can at all times fulfil our monetary obligations toward our online players, and provides further reassurance that player. This PokerStars table theme makes the PokerStars Aurora tables look like Full Tilt Poker tables used to look. The layout includes both – the oval and the racetrack table. All the original backgrounds are also included and you can use them all with both tables. It also comes with the original Full Tilt Poker deck. I'd highly recommend just playing it safe and withdraw your money from any player accounts you might have at Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, UB Poker or Absolute Poker. That's what I've done. My Full Tilt withdrawal came through immediately, and I'm still waiting on my PokerStars withdrawal.

Some people are concerned that the Cereus sites were not mentioned in the agreement. This could lead some people to believe that Cereus is not interested in returning funds to its players. If you have money in Absolute Poker or UltimateBet, though, don’t panic quite yet. The Department of Justice is ready to make a deal with Cereus if they wish to do so.

In other Black Friday news, the PokerStars Big Game and Million Dollar Challenge have been removed from the Fox network’s programming schedule. Both shows were doing a great job of marketing and promoting PokerStars.com, so this is a major setback for the company.

The PokerStars Big Game ran twelve weeks of shows in its first season, and the filming and editing of Season 2 was only a couple months away from being finished. The show will almost certainly not air in the US, and no official word has been given about whether or not it will air in other regions. Since so much time and money have already been sunk into producing the second season, it is almost guaranteed that the shows will at least be released online.

ESPN has removed all PokerStars sponsored programs from its network. For example, coverage from the PokerStars North American Poker Tour was scheduled to be shown this past Monday on ESPN2, but it was replaced by a college sports all-star challenge. ESPN still plans to cover the World Series of Poker, however.

PokerStars Allowing US Withdrawals

U.S. players with money stuck on PokerStars need worry no longer. Facilities to withdraw from your online poker account have been officially reinstated.

Following an indictment by the Department of Justice, PokerStars had prevented U.S. players from competing in real money games. However, millions of dollars were left stranded on the site. When the FBI took action to seize the company’s bank accounts, withdrawals were immediately suspended for American players. Even European players had trouble removing their cash from the client.

Following mass panic and anger from many citizens, the DoJ announced last week that they were arranging a deal to allow the cashier to reopen. A statement was released in which the government outlined plans to release the FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com domain names they had previously snatched. The key function of this action, they said, was to help facilitate easy U.S. withdrawals.

The ‘Cash Out’ button mysteriously disappeared from the PokerStars clieng last Friday. It has now reappeared, along with a host of guidelines concerning how and how fast U.S. players can expect to get their money. The online poker site are currently estimating up to 72 hours for processing and no more than 5 business days before the money reaches your bank account.

The amount you can withdraw at once is limited by the method you choose. The lowest limit is for checks, which can only be approved up to a maximum of $2,500. The figures for bank transfers give you a lot more leeway, with up to $50k for a single withdrawal. Wire transfers are for high-rollers only, requiring that you select a minimum of $50,000 for each withdrawal.

PokerStars have also noted that if you wish to make a bank transfer, you’ll need a routing number and bank account number for a checking or savings account.

Full Tilt were also named in the DoJ statement released last week, but as yet have not announced any plans to OK U.S. withdrawals. It was noticeable last week in the responses released by Full Tilt and PokerStars that the the “Home of the Pros” was a lot more defensive. They also expressed concerns about running into legal trouble if they were to begin processing U.S. withdrawals again. Players with sizeable Full Tilt bankrolls will be waiting anxiously for more news.

Similarly, UB and Absolute – the two sites that occupy the CEREUS network – have brought forward no new information regarding cash outs. In a statement released shortly after the indictment, the company claimed that allowing U.S. players to withdraw was a primary concern, but since then no new information has been forthcoming.

UPDATE: PokerStars is once again thriving, but still not accepting any players from the USA. Read our review of PokerStars here.

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.

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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.

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