While no actual statement has been made as to how and when the supposed the Full Tilt Poker deal is to take place, negotiations and settlement discussions are an ongoing process.
In an email Ray Bitar sent out to his Dublin staff he revealed that the “deal with PokerStars will very soon make our goal a reality” in repaying players and “PokerStars to guarantee all July salaries” for his staff.
According to the Associated Press the US Gov were working in conjunction with the the Irish authorities to have Ray Bitar extradited. Bitar could be sentenced up to 145 years in prison for charges of fraud.
The online poker tournament series kicks off from the from 12th – 22nd July 2012.
Sign-up for a free poker account using the marketing code below, deposit at least $20 using the pokerstars bonus code ‘MICRO’, this offer is only valid till the 10 July 2012.
Pokerstars marketing code – PSP5693
The 26 year old Rafael Nadal has admitted that he is a rookie when it comes to playing poker, being a learning player PokerStars have set up a video submission competition where players can send Rafael their poker tips to help him quickly get up to speed playing poker.
PokerStars will stand to benefit from their latest sportstar sponsoring as Nadal is Spanish and keeping in mind PokerStars have just opened legally in Spain with their fully licensed pokerstars.es game
Pokerstars marketing code PSP5693
Licensing poker rooms for economically stricken European countries will go a long way in collecting much needed additional tax revenue, while the rooms seem only but eager to get into the action regardless of the expense as can be seen by the large amounts in back taxes that were needed for the mentioned rooms to be granted poker licenses in Spain.
All the Spanish .es poker rooms are currently segregated from the rest of the world due to legislation but it is hoped that early 2013 will see the reintroduction of Spain to the rest of the world.
PokerStars have yet to introduce all their poker games to the Spain with the current maximum table limits set to €0.50/€1 and Zoom Poker is still being held back from the pokerstars.es domain.
Little is known as of yet just how much PokerStars was required to pay the Spanish Government to be granted their license but the €200 million estimate seems to be mentioned quite often.
Bwin.Party the merged group comprising of PartyGaming (PartyPoker) and Bwin needed to fork out a massive 33.6 Million Euros ($42 million) in back taxes to be granted their Spanish license while 888-Poker needed to cough up €7.4 million and some €1.3 million in surcharges and interest.
Will Poker Taxation Kill Online Poker?
While it may all be well opening and regulating the online poker industry the major question is if players will actually join these regulated rooms with stringent government enforcement and insanely high tax rates will this be the death of online poker?