GBT Deal Falls Through, PokerStars to Purchase Full Tilt?

PokerStars has addressed the rumors about the purchase of Full Tilt Poker. Says discussions are confidential and they can not comment further.

After months of negotiations, Groupe Bernard Tapie has released a statement saying that their deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker has fallen through, citing two major issues: agreement with the DOJ on a plan to repay players and U.S. legal complications surrounding the deal. But not all hope is lost for players hoping to be repaid or for a relaunched Full Tilt Poker.

The GBT news of this morning coincided with credible reports that PokerStars may have agreed to purchase Full Tilt Poker for a sum of $750 million. The amount reportedly includes settlement with the Department of Justice and a refunding of all players their full balance, believed to be over $300 million. In a surprising twist when announcing the GBT news, iGaming France confirmed
 via Twitter that "external sabotage" may have been in play with the GBT/DOJ negotiations. The comment suggests that developments related to PokerStars may have played a role in the GBT talks breaking apart in the final hour.

The GBT statement also addressed the PokerStars' rumors (which at this point, are just rumors, albeit quite credible). "We can only assume that PokerStars determined that it was willing to accept these legal and financial risks in order to resolve its own legal situation with DOJ.

 If a PokerStars acquisition of FTP means that all FTP players will be fully repaid immediately, we are very happy for the players." GBT went on to say that it would be regrettable for additional consolidation in an industry already dominated by a single player.

PokerStars is, of course, the largest online poker site by a fairly wide margin, equivalent in size to the next 15 largest sites combined. If the deal turns out to be true, there is little doubt PokerStars' purchase of Full Tilt Poker would further cement their position in the marketplace and would increase PokerStars' already high favorably rating with players. The move would allow them to maintain their market share and even increase it if a PokerStars-owned Full Tilt Poker platform were to coexist with PokerStars.

While it is true that many PokerStars players also play on Full Tilt Poker, many European players on networks such as Party Poker and iPoker moved there after Black Friday and then the subsequent collapse of Full Tilt. Even without U.S. traffic, Full Tilt Poker was the second largest online poker site in the world before their license was revoked by Alderney last year. 

This is a developing story with additional information likely in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned to PAS for the latest info, breakdown and analysis.