Poker sites agree to $731M settlement

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NEW YORK, July 31 (UPI) -- Two online poker companies have agreed to a $731 million settlement on money-laundering and fraud charges, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.

PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are two of three online poker companies sued by the United States in a money laundering and forfeiture complaint originally filed in April 2011. The settlement was approved Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand in Manhattan.

The companies admitted no guilt.

Under the terms of the settlement with Full Tilt, the company agreed to forfeit virtually all of its assets to the United States to resolve the charges in the complaint, the department said. PokerStars agreed to forfeit $547 million and to reimburse approximately $184 million owed by Full Tilt to foreign players.

PokerStars will acquire the forfeited Full Tilt assets from the government, and Full Tilt's U.S. fraud victims will be able to seek compensation for their losses from the Department of Justice from the $547 million forfeited by PokerStars, the department said.

PokerStars is prohibited from offering online poker in the United States for real money unless and until it is legal to do so under U.S. law, the department said, and also was banned from hiring several Full Tilt employees.