NEW YORK — Settlement deals reached between federal prosecutors and three Internet poker companies call for more than a half billion dollars to be paid to the government, enabling U.S. poker players to recover several hundred million dollars lost when the companies shut down U.S. operations last year, authorities said Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand approved settlement agreements with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. A separate agreement between the government and a third company, Absolute Poker, had not yet been approved by the court.
PokerStars said in a release that its deal with the Department of Justice calls for it to pay the government $547 million over three years with the money being used in part to reimburse former U.S. customers of Full Tilt Poker who are owed $184 million. PokerStars said it has acquired the assets of Full Tilt Poker.
The U.S. operations of the companies were shut down when the government last year brought criminal charges against various poker company executives and those who helped the companies process money. The Associated Press
