After several months of virtually no communication, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement on Tuesday to United States online poker players who are expecting repayment of their funds from Full Tilt Poker.

Since the August settlement between the Department of Justice and PokerStars, the agency has been silent on the issue of repayment of players.

As a part of the settlement, PokerStars took on the responsibility of paying off non-U.S. players who wished to withdraw their money from Full Tilt Poker, while the Department of Justice was beset with the obligation to take care of U.S. players.

The announcement on Tuesday wasn’t much, but it did give a glimmer of hope for those in the U.S. who have been waiting for their money since Full Tilt Poker was ousted from the market on Black Friday.

In the announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York’s Victim and Witness Services announced, “The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is evaluating applicants for the position of Claims Administrator to handle petitions for remission for U.S. victims of the alleged fraud that Full Tilt Poker committed relating to player funds. The United States Attorney’s Office expects that the Claims Administrator will be selected and begin work in January 2013.”

The news may come as a surprise to some, as it was thought that the process of hiring a Claims Administrator was already completed. Soon after the announcement of the DOJ settlement back in August, the SDNY posted an employment notice for a Claims Administrator who would specifically handle the Full Tilt Poker case and the repayment of players. In the job posting, the SDNY stated it was looking for a Claims Administrator who will “design and execute a process to solicit, receive, and evaluate claims and process payments for losses incurred by U.S. victims of Full Tilt Poker.”

The job posting in August set qualifications for taking on the job, including expertise in the online poker industry and prior claims administration experience.

The Federal Government is estimating that 1.3 million players have funds that were tied up in the online poker site, with somewhere in the neighborhood of$160 million potentially being distributed to players. The “potentially” in that statement is because it is unknown if the Federal Government will issue any penalties when those funds are returned to the players or simply keep a percentage of the money.

As to the molasses-slow pace that the Federal Government has been taking on this issue, the Poker Players Alliancehas been attempting to push the discussion forward. Late last week, the PPA released a letter from Chairman Alfonse D’Amato dated November 2 that detailed the position of the PPA regarding the Full Tilt Poker case. In that letter, D’Amato pointed out that while the PPA was in support of Senators Harry Reid and Jon Kyl’s proposed online poker bill, there were areas for improvement (Reid pictured).

D’Amato and the PPA stressed the importance of easing opt-in requirements, shortening the blackout period (set at 15 months under the current bill) and allowing U.S. players to join in non-U.S. play. In addition, the prohibition of companies that serviced American players post-UIGEA enactment, such as PokerStars and Full Tilt, was a major point of contention in the D’Amato letter.

To this point, there has been no reply from Reid or Kyl on the issue. As Congress could deal with the regulation of the online poker industry during its “lame duck” session, the process of compensating American players from the old Full Tilt Poker slowly moves along. We’ll keep you posted with the latest.

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