Their reputation can be repaired if the website is sold to a different operator and that operator decides to go through some kind of rebranding and compensation.
Now that you mention it, you've reminded me of what happened with Full Tilt Poker. Basically, it went bankrupt, and for years I wrote off the money I had there as a loss. But eventually, PokerStars bought it and returned our money. A buyout like that might make sense because of the huge user base. At first, the acquiring company has to make an investment to cover the shortfall—the money missing due to the bankruptcy—but over time, thanks to the huge user base, it could turn out to be very profitable for them.
It is not impossible, just extremely unlikely to happen.
It is obvious the current administration of the website does not have any intention to safe face within all this mess, so it would be foolish to play along and assume they are going to suddenly start sending Bitcoins to all their investors and gamblers.
Yes, realistically speaking, it’s most likely that the sale has already gone through, and it doesn’t look like things are going to get any better.
It would need to be a big casino or bookie which does not only have enough money to buy the property of the website, but also to have enough money to refund all people who have lost money to this exit scam.
Also, I nada no idea pokerstars actual did something like buying a closed service and also acquire it's debt in order to attract more players, it is a very good option to make even more money in the long term, but we also need to be realistic and keep in mind there are very few companies which would dare to take such risk and have the patience to work in the long term.
Stake would easily buy Freebitcoin and refund people on their behalf, but I don't think Stake would have any reason to acquire it, when it is already a very well recognized casino on the internet.
