Brief news: German players likely to return to Full Tilt’; Cereus; Guoco Group.

About three quarters of players from Germany having accounts on Full Tilt would return to the site in case of its reinstating, says a poll on the forums of partner site Pokerstrategy.com. Among 1,215 respondents (at the moment of writing), 27% would withdraw 100% of their money right away, while 21% would withdraw some money and play using the rest. Online gambling consulting firm, Gaming Edge, announced that in case the site was to reopen these days, it would still rank next to PokerStars on its special poker scorecard.

Cereus poker network owner, Blanca Games, has confirmed that it is in negotiations with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in order to renew its license agreement. The company’s sites Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker currently don’t accept players from the USA. Blanca Games’ spokeswoman said that their current aim is to get their license and Client Provider Authorization continued by the Commission.

French ex-monopoly Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) reports that amounts staked online increased by 64% to €639.5m (£562.8m). Its site has made visible progress in poker, expanding its share in French market to 5%, and claims to have become one of the three best online betting sites (apart from bets on horseracing). Their weekly release informs that these ‘new’ activities have given 16% of PMU’s total gaming income and 63% of the company’s growth in the same field.

Guoco Group affiliate All Global Investments Ltd (AGIL) was given valid acceptances by Rank Group stockholders on account of 71.53% of shares in Mecca Bingo and Blue Square, says a Rank release. Earlier it was reported that buying over 75% of shares before the 15^th of July would make it possible for Guoco to remove Rank from the London Stock Exchange. James Hollins, analyst of Evolution Securities claimed that his company expected that the final level at  the end of Friday’s offer would remain under 75%. He added that chances are that Rank will remain a publicly traded company after the close of the offer on the 15^th of July. First Rank said that AGIL’s £585m offer was undervaluing, but then accepted the bid on the 24^th of June.