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Online Poker for US Poker Players Where Now ?
After the FBI indicted PokerStars, Fulltilt, Absolute & UB last week on Black Friday II, US poker players are struggling to figure out where they stand …
Where can I play, what happened and why, will I get my money back, what is everyone else doing and how will this affect online poker in the USA ?
Following the indictment of 4 of biggest US poker sites, traffic at PokerStars dropped by 30% and at Fulltilt by 50% however US poker players seem determined to play online with traffic at Bodog UP by 25%, at Merge Network UP by 23% and even Cake showing an increase.
Online Poker Sites Open to US Players
For those US players who were playing at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute or UltimateBet who just want to find somewhere to play I currently recommend two sites …
Carbon Poker – 100% up to $600 bonus … Review | Play Now
Bodog Poker – 100% up to $1000 bonus … Review | Play Now
US facing sites and networks that are unaffected by the indictment have said they will remain open to US poker players include Bodog Poker, Merge Gaming Network sites (Carbon is the flagship site) and sites on the Cake Poker Network (excluding Victory Poker which does not accept US players).
What Happened, Who & Why
The 4 sites (PokerStars, FullTilt, Absolute & UltimateBet) were served with indictments and had their domains seized by the FBI for alleged bank fraud and money laundering as a result of trying to get round the UIGEA.
Widely believed that the FBI were only able to indict the sites because of information gained after Daniel Tzvetkoff allegedly the man behind all the complicated payment processing was arrested and turned snitch to save his own neck.
That is significant because firstly the level of alleged bank fraud alleged in this indictment is far higher than most though might be going on to bypass the UIGEA.
And secondly suggests that other sites could avoid similar problems because they are maybe not committing the same bank fraud alleged and also havent been involved with Tzvetkoff … read more here
Where are Sites Now ?
PokerStars.com domain has been seized, they are no longer open to US players but they are operating via pokerstars.eu and are open to non US players who may continue to play.
FullTiltPoker.com domain has been seized, they are no longer open to US players but they are operating via fulltiltpoker.co.uk and are open to non US players who may continue to play.
AbsolutePoker.com & UB.com domains have been seized, they are no longer accepting new US players, but strangely seem to be allowing existing US players at the tables but they can’t deposit or cashout.
Will Affected US Players Get Their Money Back ?
Probably … Eventually
Although the FBI and DoJ have seized several billion in funds from the sites ultimately a large proportion of these funds is players money. The UIGEA specifically says players cannot be held responsible for any breaches of the Unlawful Interent Gaming Enforcement Act. It is most likely that this case will be settled out of court with a massive cash settlement by the poker rooms and then somehow the player funds will be refunded to US players … however this is likely to take sometime and very much depends on how quickly the legal issues and the bank fraud case gets resolved.
What about Non US players on Indicted Sites ?
Non US players are a little bit split on the direction things are going to go in and as they dont really HAVE to play at US open sites.
Feeling that this may have made these sites financially unstable some European / Non US poker players are moving away from the affected sites to poker rooms who haven’t accepted US players since the UIGEA, this is understandable given non US players really dont HAVE to take the risk.
One of the sites benefiting most from the exodus is the 3d poker site PKR Poker where traffic and signups are up over 20% also Party Poker as the biggest non US poker room and sites like bet365 that have outstanding reputations and levels of trust stands to gain more players.
Will Other US Facing Sites Get Affected ?
Honestly … Who Knows
But most industry pundits feel its less likely for other US facing sites to get indicted in the foreseeable future. It wasnt so much the UIGEA that caught up with them but the alleged levels to which the bank fraud was committed.
Getting enough evidence for the indictment of PokerStars, Fulltilt, Absolute and UB sites took 4 years to put together and frankly only came about because the kingpin of the bank processing operations stole from the sites and got caught by the Febs and grassed the rest of them in.
While as mere players we dont know or understand the practicalities of how other sites get round the UIGEA in all probabability they are not committing quite the same sort or level of bank fraud as is alleged in these cases.
Is Regulated Online Poker Now More Likely in the US ?
Yes … and No
The recent indictments while triggered by the UIGEA aren’t really about the legality of playing online poker in the US, the UIGEA is specifically related to banking, bank fraud and money laundering and as such bizarrely the two aren’t that connected in the eyes of the FBI & DoJ, it’s the bank fraud that’s got them in a spin not the poker.
However this has massively played into the hands of the land based US casinos. Having slashed PokerStars and Full Tilt’s massive market share overnight by 30% and 50% respectively it would be the perfect time for the land based casinos to push for inter state US only online poker regulation … this is like Christmas came early for them.
What is the Future of Online Poker Worldwide ?
I’ve previously predicted that while the best solution for online poker players would be regulated global poker rooms as time goes on that looks less and less likely. There are far too many different agendas and power struggles, the land based casinos want to make online sites look like pirates (they werent before the UIGEA), the governments just want to raise tax dollars and the religous right just want everything enjoyable banned.
More likely is for the French style regulation to become more widespread with governments favouring a closed system which they would find easier to tax and regulate. Unfortunately governments are not poker players and have little understanding or interest in the advantages to the poker player of higher player traffic with better table choice and an international player base making round the clock games viable.
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