Online poker site to resume trading

An online poker site that was suspended from trading in the US, putting 600 Irish jobs at risk is set to resume trading with in the next 90 days.

A notice on the Full Tilt poker website says: “We plan to re-open Full Tilt in most markets within the next 90 days.”

The website was operated out of Cherrywood in Co Dublin by another company, Pocket Kings.

Pocket Kings said they were unable confirm whether or not they would be able to re-hire some of the staff that were let go following the shutting down of the websites by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

The prosecutors filed a civil bank fraud and money-laundering suit against Full Tilt and PokerStars and brought criminal charges against their founders.

A spokesperson for Pocket Kings said: “Full Tilt were our biggest client. We handled IT systems and software development for them.”

The massive fraud complaint against PokerStars and Full Tilt was settled in a move that will see Isle of Man-based PokerStars forfeit €594m, including €444m that will be used to reimburse US customers of Full Tilt Poker.

Prosecutors said both companies had used false billing codes to deceive banks that would not process gambling transactions, and they said Full Tilt had devolved into a “global Ponzi scheme,” with the big-name players and other owners pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars that were owed to players.

Prosecutors accused Full Tilt of lying when it told customers that their accounts were “segregated and held separately” from the company’s operating funds. In the end, it owed more than it could repay without a sale.

Several companies besides PokerStars considered making bids for Full Tilt, including San Francisco-based social gaming company Zynga Inc, Bwin.Party and land-based casinos, according to a person involved in the process. The asset sale includes software, patents and 10,000 web addresses. Zynga made no comment.

— Additional reporting Reuters