This story is sponsored by PokerStars
French poker players left with money on FullTiltPoker.fr when its licence was suspended last year will be reimbursed through PokerStars.fr from 2 November, it was confirmed yesterday.
“The date of effective implementation of the reimbursement process of players is 2 November 2012”, said French regulator ARJEL in a statement, which added that “[a]n email describing the course of this procedure will be sent by customer services to all PokerStars players involved, Nov. 2, 2012.”
According to the French regulator last month, Pokerstars.fr has set up a trust fund in London containing all the funds of the French Full Tilt Poker players, to “ensure repayment in any circumstance.”
Stars was required to make all monies owed to Full Tilt’s French players available for withdrawal in full no later than 6 November 2012, as per the terms of its US$731m civil settlement deal with the US government, under which it acquired the assets and non-US liabilities of its former rival.
French players credited their former Full Tilt balances in this way from next Friday will be able to play on at PokerStars.fr or withdraw them in full.
ARJEL also met Italian regulator AAMS in Rome yesterday, their second conference following the memorandum of understanding signed in June last year. Host AAMS said the parties formalised arrangements for exchange of respective market data and compared player protection practices, with particular attention paid to the prevention of problem gambling, minors accessing games, payment fraud and money-laundering.
AAMS said: “The agreement between AAMS and ARJEL, which represents the first example of cooperation between bilateral game controllers in Europe, fits perfectly – and indeed it has for more than a year – in the context of the European Commission’s ‘action plan for online gambling’ published on 23 October.”
The EC this week pledged to establish formal cooperation betweeen regulators by 2013 as part of its five-point action plan to “build a better framework for online gambling services in the EU” and provide greater clarity for governments, regulators, industry participants and consumers.
Article written by Stephen Carter
