The US Justice Department’s crusade against online gambling in general and poker in particular in 2012 generated over $3 billion for government coffers in terms of forfeitures and seizures, reports the New York Times.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan was the principal generator, but the overall total is a new record for the 93 U.S. attorney’s offices positioned around the United States.
Among the DoJ’s ‘earnings’ was the massive $731 million settlement with Pokerstars in July, which was to be paid in a cash tranche and by instalments.
Part of the Pokerstars settlement is destined to pay out US players of the failed Full Tilt Poker, which has since been re-launched under Pokerstars ownership.
The players have been invited to submit claims, and the DoJ is currently studying possible independent third parties to undertake the payment-to-players process as an outsourced project.
Pokerstars has already made good the non-US Full Tilt players around the world.