Online Poker Shut Down for US Residents

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In what has come to be known to online poker players as Black Friday, on April 15 the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) Southern District of New York seized the websites of the three largest Internet poker sites, issued indictments for some eleven individuals and effectively shut down the online poker games in the U.S.A. at least for now.

Two of the biggest sites, PokerStars, and Full Tilt reacted immediately, switching to alternate domains to serve their players in the rest of the world, yet later regretfully blocking US residents from engaging in online play.

Since that time, the DoJ has released a couple of the domains, entering into an agreement with PokerStars and Full Tilt to allow them to pay back the balances of U.S. players, with the understanding that no U.S. player would be allowed to engage in online poker on these two sites. Though it is not expected to happen immediately, the promise of eventual payment offered a ray of hope to players whose account balances were frozen when the feds closed off the flow of bank payments.

The other site seized, Absolute Poker/UB.com owned by the Cereus network is claiming to be working through legal counsel to reach a similar agreement to facilitate the release of player funds, nothing has been announced as of yet.

What is expected to happen is the government’s action will create legal quagmire of great depth and complexity with the saga being played out in the courts for years to come, with only those adults in the United States who enjoy poker being effectively deprived of their right to play, although no individual players will ever be charged with a crime.

U.S. Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), who called the seizure an incredible waste of resources said, “Go after the people responsible for empty houses, not full houses. I’m not saying violate the law, but to give this priority in law enforcement over some other things I think is a terrible idea and I think the administration is wrong on this.”

The DoJ’s action, which arose from the detailed singing of an Australian canary named Daniel Tzvetkoff, arrested in Las Vegas last summer for processing some $500 million for these specific online poker rooms over a two year period, is believed to be based solely on info provided by the ex-whiz kid and was the only way the feds were able to put together their version of a case.

Other online poker rooms are still accepting players from the USA; you can check out the most reputable sites here:

Bodog Poker

Doyles Room

Carbon Poker

Cake Poker