Full Tilt deal & US regulation updates

The deal for Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) to purchase Full Tilt Poker has had it’s terms agreed by the Department of Justice in the USA, and it will allow for GBT to either repay or make whole players outside of the United States, and gives a route for US-based players to be repaid.

In a statement by FTP, their co-founder and CEO, Ray Bitar said: “I am extremely pleased with the efforts of the Department of Justice, and the Groupe Bernard Tapie corporation, and appreciate their continued dedication in working towards a mutually beneficial agreement that will facilitate repayment of the players .”

As the agreement between FTP/GBT and the DOJ has now been reached, the parties involved will be able to concentrate on hammering out the finer points of their agreement and close the matter at the earliest date possible.

In a related story, Congress has had a couple of committee hearings in the US and both were generally in favour of some sort of regulation. Even Sen. Jon Kyl, a former opponent of introducing any kind of bill that would allow for online poker, is rumoured to be considering co-sponsoring a bill. Details of the subcommittee meeting can be found [html] here[/html].