PokerStars Denies Rumors Of Backing Out From FTP Deal
PokerStars has recently squashed rumors about no longer showing interest in buying Full Tilt Poker. The rumor was started by former Party Gaming legal counsel James Barnes. Barnes tweeted last week, “Pokerstars folds on FTP deal. Never real deal; just bluff to prevent Tapie from bringing FTP back to market – great bargaining chip with DOJ.” This was in reference to Groupe Bernard Tapie’s bid to acquire Full Tilt Poker.
This tweet created some noise and worry in the iGaming community especially players who had money trapped in Full Tilt Poker. They began fearing the worst that could happen to them and their investment. PokerStars Head of Corporate Communications, Eric Hollreiser, quickly denied the rumors in an interview with ESPN.
Andrew Feldman from ESPN tweeted, “The Head of Corp Communications for @PokerStars @erichollreiser says the Twitter rumors of PS folding on the FTP deal are ‘false.’” Hollreiser retweeted Feldman’s message but did not make a comment of his own.
Hollreiser retweeted two other tweets that claimed the rumors Barnes started were false. These two other tweets came from PokerNews’ editor-in-chief Matt Parvis and PokerNews contributor Elaine Chaivarlis. Parvis tweeted, “Thanks to @LaneyLV digging, source from PokerStars tells PokerNews there are many false tweets in regards to PS/FTP rumors,” while Chaivarlis was able to tweet, “PokerStars @erichollreiser told me a bit a go that there are many false tweets outh there in regard to PokerStars and FTP.”
The first rumor about FTP and PokerStars surfaced two months ago. Rumors say that PokerStars has intentions of buying out their largest competitor, Full Tilt Poker. There were also speculations on what could have been the cause of the delay in the buy out completion. Others speculated that a deal was being worked out with the DOJ and this deal concerned PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg who also happens to be a Black Friday defendant. They say that part of the deal would be for Scheinberg to turn himself in.
A few weeks ago, Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar turned himself in to theU.S.authorities and was able to go back to theU.S.after being in hiding following Black Friday. Bitar was able to release a statement following his surrender to the authorities. This statement said, “For the last 15 months, I have worked hard on possible solution to get the players repaid. Returning today is part of that process. I believe we are near the end of a very long road, and I will continue to do whatever is required to get the players repaid, and I hope that it will happen soon.”
Barnes was no longer able to follow-up his tweets on his Twitter account after initially reporting that the deal between PokerStars and FTP was off. Players, though, are still waiting for an official statement from PokerStars regarding their efforts in acquiring Full Tilt Poker.
