FulTiltPoker.com update - hope you don't live in the U.S.

[Gerry]

CNN is showing this update on the feds seizing of FullTiltPoker.com

Essentially, the seizing (shutting down) of FullTiltPoker.com by the Department of Justice froze not only the company assets but the accounts of individuals

Now a French company has reached an agreement with the DOJ to purchase the company but will pay back the accounts of non-US members.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/11/21/cm-full-tilt-poker-ponzi-scheme.cnnmoney

 

[dcristo]

Hopefully US players get their money back, even though it likely won't be the full amount. So much damage has been done to the FTP brand I'd be shocked if the new owner didn't rebrand the poker room.

 

[Gerry]

According to the newsclip, US players have to apply for a release of funds through the DOJ.

I have a feeling many US players are going to get caught up in a Tax Sting.

How many of these players actually paid taxes?


However, I do agree with the name and branding.

I used to watch Poker After Dark with many of these mega rich players representing Full Tilt.

 

[dcristo]

Ohh really. So if players didn't already write it off as bad debt, they would be now. The amount owed to players is a lot more then what was reportedly paid for FTP so it was likely going to still take a long time before funds were released back to players in any event. Shame what happened to this site, it had kickass software, one of the best if not the best in the industry.

 

[Gerry]

Seeing that all of this just went down in 2011, US players will have to claim loss (or gains) on their federal taxes which would need to be filed by April 15, 2112.

Imagine the paperwork trail that it would take to demonstrate a claim for a loss on their accounts. The individual will have to supply a great deal of information to demonstrate they actually had a loss (capital gains loss) on gambling investments.

If that one guy is trying to claim $60,000.00 in his account frozen, he will have supply the proper documents to show that he had the money to fund the account. If he did not claim any income (or losses) last year (or previous couple of years) the the DOJ will want to know where he got the money to fund the account. In other words, if you claimed no income how is it you can come up with an account of $60K? Another guy in that clip I think mentioned $128,000 frozen.

 

[Mike Cruz]

I played poker online and offline for a year full time, paid for by an investor, traveled a lot, it was fun. We had a good CPA and a nice run, til I got sick., but I highly doubt even 5% of other players ever did taxes.

You might be right about the sting part, but I am wondering if DOJ is going to do their part about "protecting" players.

 

[Gerry]

I played poker online and offline for a year full time, paid for by an investor, traveled a lot, it was fun. We had a good CPA and a nice run, til I got sick., but I highly doubt even 5% of other players ever did taxes.

You might be right about the sting part, but I am wondering if DOJ is going to do their part about "protecting" players.

I remember you and a few others mentioning playing.

DOJ is highly doubtful doing to protect the players if they have authorized the sale of the site to a French company.