Founding & Early Growth (2004–2007)

Full Tilt Poker was incorporated and launched in 2004. Its distinctive positioning was the involvement of professional poker players as both equity holders and brand ambassadors. The founding group included well-known players from the post-Moneymaker poker boom, including Chris Ferguson (World Series of Poker Main Event winner 2000), Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey (shareholder), Rafe Furst, and others. Ray Bitar served as Chief Executive Officer.

The site licensed its software platform from an external provider before transitioning to proprietary software. It obtained licensing from the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), a British Crown Dependency regulator. Full Tilt operated under the domain fulltiltpoker.com and grew rapidly on the back of its professional player association and high-profile televised poker content.

By 2007 Full Tilt Poker had established itself as the clear number-two online poker room globally, behind PokerStars but ahead of all other competitors. It introduced “Rush Poker” in 2010 — a fast-fold variant that moved players to a new table and new hand immediately upon folding — which proved commercially successful and was widely copied by competitors.

The Black Friday Indictments (2011)

On 15 April 2011 — Good Friday in the United States — the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York unsealed indictments against the principals of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Cereus Network. The date became known universally in poker circles as “Black Friday.”

The indictments alleged violations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), bank fraud, and money laundering. The government alleged that the operators had disguised gambling transactions by routing payments through front companies and misrepresenting the nature of transactions to US banks. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) seized the domains.

For Full Tilt specifically, the situation rapidly escalated beyond the initial charges. Investigators and regulators subsequently alleged that Full Tilt had been operating in a manner that made it unable to pay all outstanding player balances — that is, it had used incoming player deposits to fund operational costs and shareholder distributions rather than maintaining ring-fenced player funds.

AGCC Licence Revocation (September 2011)

Following the Black Friday seizure, Full Tilt Poker attempted to continue operations for non-US players. However, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended and subsequently revoked Full Tilt’s operating licence in September 2011 after Full Tilt failed to demonstrate that it held sufficient funds to meet its obligations to players.

The AGCC’s published findings noted that Full Tilt had failed to keep player funds in segregated accounts as required under its licence conditions. This left non-US players unable to withdraw balances held on the platform. Estimates of non-US player balances at the time of closure ranged from $150M to over $200M.

PokerStars Acquisition & Player Reimbursement (2012–2014)

PokerStars reached a settlement agreement with the DOJ in 2012 as part of a broader resolution that covered both PokerStars’ own charges and the Full Tilt Poker situation. Under the terms of the agreement:

• PokerStars agreed to pay $547M to the DOJ to resolve its own charges
• PokerStars separately agreed to pay $184M to reimburse non-US Full Tilt Poker player balances
• PokerStars received the Full Tilt Poker brand, domain, and player database as consideration
• The DOJ agreed to facilitate reimbursement of US player balances separately through its own claims process

The combined PokerStars/Full Tilt settlement totalled approximately $731M paid to the US government. Non-US player reimbursements were processed through PokerStars from 2012 onwards. The DOJ’s US player reimbursement process through the Claims Administrator took significantly longer, with distributions continuing into 2014 and beyond.

Relaunch Under PokerStars (2014–2023)

PokerStars relaunched Full Tilt Poker in November 2014 as a separate brand targeting recreational and casual players, differentiated from PokerStars’ more competitive environment. The relaunched FTP emphasised Rush & Cash (the fast-fold cash game format), Jackpot Sit & Go tournaments, and eventually introduced a “Rush & Cash” mobile-first product.

Following Amaya Gaming’s acquisition of PokerStars in 2014 and the subsequent Flutter Entertainment merger in 2020, Full Tilt Poker was retained as a distinct brand. However, player volumes on Full Tilt never approached its pre-Black Friday scale, and the brand operated as a secondary product within the Flutter poker portfolio.

Final Closure (2023)

Flutter Entertainment announced the closure of the Full Tilt Poker platform in 2023. Players were directed to migrate their accounts and balances to PokerStars. The Full Tilt brand was formally retired after nearly two decades — a period that encompassed its rise as one of the world’s premier online poker destinations, its collapse amid one of the largest regulatory actions in online gambling history, and its decade-long afterlife as a PokerStars subsidiary brand.