Rumors that PokerStars is lining up a takeover bid for Full Tilt Poker are spreading across the Internet. The reports for now remain unconfirmed by any reliable source.

Rumors that PokerStars might be lining up a major takeover bid for Full Tilt Poker are right now spreading like wildfire across the web.

The rumors started early this morning when an anonymous poster created a thread on TwoPlusTwo, titled "PokerStars Purchases FTP(?)".

In the thread's original post, the creator claimed that PokerStars has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to buy out FTP, and that the deal would mean refunding of all players and both sites to go back online.

The thread was almost immediately shut down as the poster did not provide any sources to his claims, but it was later reopened with moderator "NoahSD" adding that he had received messages from "a number of sources" telling him to undelete the thread.

The rumors would later be fueled additionally by tweets from ChiliGaming CEO Alexandre Dreyfus and French online iGaming magazine, IGamingFrance.

"Pokerstars buys FullTilt for a consideration of $750m, including settlement with DOJ and full balances of players (330m). I’m impressed," were the words from the ChiliGaming CEO, who has also been the only source so far to put an actual number on a potential deal.

Meanwhile, IGamingFrance claimed to have been in contact with Laurent Tapie, who according to the magazine declined to comment but promised to have a press release out "later today."

Another input also came from Daniel "jungleman12" Cates, who last night tweeted that he had received "very promising news regarding the Full Tilt situation. Cates' today went on to reiterate this claim in a new blog post on his personal website, junglemandan.com, in which he once again expressed his optimism about the future of the inactive site.

Other reports from different corners of the web this afternoon further pointed to the failure of Groupe Bernard Tapie to complete its pending deal with the Department of Justice, hinting that PokerStars may have come from behind to take advantage of the situation.

According to eGaming Review, sources close to the matter today confirmed that the deal has indeed fallen through, with the Tapie group citing "unresolvable legal complications and failure to agree on player repayment plan" as the reasons for the deal's last-minute collapse.

So far, however, all reports remain unsubstantiated and are therefore to be understood as little more than unconfirmed rumors at this point.

No changes have been made to the Full Tilt Poker domain either, just as no official statement has been released from any of the involved parts.

Source: Poker.org