WickedChops rarely goes with something definitive unless it’s definitive:
Posted early this morning but independently confirmed Stars acquiring Tilt a done deal: http://insider.wickedchopspoker.com/566/the-latest-on-the-pokerstars-and-full-tilt-poker-acquisition/Still plenty of details to come
Same goes for PokerFuse, who were pretty definitive yesterday when they broke the story:
PokerStars has reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice, pokerfuse can reveal. Part of the deal involves the purchase of Full Tilt Poker and full repayment of all players.
DiamondFlush won’t confirm that the new buyer is PokerStars or that the deal is done but it’s not too hard to read between the lines:
One such suitor is now in the stages of completing a new agreement with FTP and DOJ. This author does indeed know the identity of this potential new buyer, but until such time that an agreement is finalized by all parties, that information cannot be publicly confirmed. This author is, however, able to report that multiple sources have confirmed that any new agreement with this buyer would provide for repayment to players in the U.S.A. and “Rest of World”.
Also, while less formal than the above sources, Shaun Deeb is likely to be in something resembling a position to know what’s going on – he called it a done deal yesterday on TwoPlusTwo:
I feel bad making a new thread but dont want this info lost elsewhere but cliffs are included my source I trust a lot.
Anyways the deal is already done by what I am told;
Players will be paid within 90 days
FTP will be open in the US market
Isai will be stepping down from the company
While short of a confirmation of a deal being done, an article in today’s WSJ (paywall) does confirm that negotiations between Stars and the DOJ are ongoing and at a minimum are in an apparently advanced stage:
PokerStars is in negotiations to acquire Full Tilt Poker in a deal that would end the two online poker companies’ legal battles with the U.S. Justice Department, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Under the deal being discussed, PokerStars would acquire the assets of its smaller rival, according to the person. The deal would be part of a broader settlement of a civil case brought by the DOJ against the two companies, the person said.
… which is more or less what EGR (paywall) said yesterday when they said everything up to but not quite including “a deal is done”:
Details remain unclear with Stars understood to be in latter stages of finalising an agreement with the US Department of Justice – a move that could go as far as see it settle and its two indicted executives cleared.
Nothing’s final until the doors reopen at Tilt, but this seems about as close to confirmation as we’re going to get short of that.
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