The slow process of reuniting US-based customers of Full Tilt Poker with their bankrolls took an incremental step forward today.

According to the Garden City Group, the company responsible for administering FTP remissions, a second round of payments totalling around $5mm to approximately 2,200 accounts was initiated on April 1st.

Total payments to date top $80mm

When combined with the first round of payments issued in late February ($76mm to 27,500 accounts), the GCG has now issued some $81mm in payments to just under 30,000 accounts.

That total is more or less in line with the amounts originally estimated for the cohort of Full Tilt Poker customers who did not dispute their account balance with the GCG.

But many Full Tilt Poker balances remain unpaid

While the total numbers involved in repayment to date are impressive in an absolute sense, there still remains a substantial gap between the amount paid and the sum of US player balances on Full Tilt Poker when the site closed.

To the best of my knowledge, an official total for US FTP balances was never released by the DoJ or any involved party.

But using numbers regarding Full Tilt’s total liabilities provided in statements from the US Department of Justice (estimated at “over $300 million” here and “approximately $350 million” here) and then subtracting the amount PokerStars paid specifically to cover non-US balances ($184mm) leaves you with an estimated total ranging from $120mm to $160mm.

Diamond Flush Poker put the number at $150mm, a figure echoed by Nathan Vardi at Forbes.

Even at the low end, we’re left with a gap of tens of millions of dollars.

Some of that money will never be paid. For example:

Affiliates are ineligible to receive any part of their FTP balance connected to affiliate payments.

are ineligible to receive any part of their FTP balance connected to affiliate payments. Team Full Tilt players and “other players who were playing with funds from FTP or who were compensated by FTP to play on the FTP site” are excluded from the remissions process.

players and “other players who were playing with funds from FTP or who were compensated by FTP to play on the FTP site” are excluded from the remissions process. An untold number of individuals with relatively small balances probably decided to pass on the process.

But some (likely material) amount of money is still tied up in the remissions process:

Affiliates are eligible to recover the portion of their balances not related to affiliate activity.

are eligible to recover the portion of their balances not related to affiliate activity. Some Full Tilt Pros (although it’s unclear exactly which ones) may be eligible to recover part of their balances.

(although it’s unclear exactly which ones) may be eligible to recover part of their balances. Anyone who disputed their balance with GCG has yet to be paid.

Visit the official site for Full Tilt Poker claims administration: FullTiltPokerClaims.com.