by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Dec 3, 2011 | Updated on Dec 3, 2011
One of the main reasons that former Full Tilt players from America want this deal to be finalized is because they would like to see the online poker real money they lost on Black Friday. And as of now the main thought is that as soon as Groupe Bernard Tapie buys out Full Tilt’s remaining assets former players will start getting repaid. This may be true, but what most people do not understand is that these refunds may be taxed at some incredibly high rate. Jeff Ifrah, Full Tilt’s attorney in this whole mess has made public statements in which he said that he will do everything in his power to hopefully tell the US government to back off as far as taxes are concerned.Repayment to players will be started as soon as the Bernard Tapie deal is completed. Players will receive their money from a government fund, but there is no word on how the IRS may tax their “winnings.” Since poker still has a legally unfavorable status in the US, the thought from Ifrah and others like him is that the IRS will take a majority of everyone’s cash through taxes. This may seem unfair, but this is how government works. At this point, the money that Groupe Bernard Tapie will be paying for Full Tilt is barely half of the cash that is owed to former players. The most accurate estimations claim that Full Tilt’s former players are owed somewhere around $150 million. The proposed selling price of Full Tilt, $80 million, will barely cover half of those players’ money, and that is assuming that all $80 million will be going to players, which I am sure it will not be.All hope may not be lost though, because Full Tilt’s associated bank accounts have still retained some cash and that may be enough to cover some more of the lost players funds. Everyone that is involved in this situation wants to figure out the deal and move on with their lives because this whole fiasco has caused innumerable amounts of frustration and anger. As the story progresses we will have much more news.
