Be afraid, be very afraid... :)

[Ctuchik]

At least if you use these poker sites..

Online gambling: FBI shuts down Internet poker sites - latimes.com

The FBI had shut down two of the sites, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, by Friday evening and were working to do the same with the third, Absolute Poker.

 

[Influenza]

Wonder what happens to the people who have winnings in thier accounts on them sites.

 

[ECA]

They didn't shut down the sites, they seized the domains.

All the software/playability/etc is the same, I would be worried if my money was on Absolute Poker and a little on full tilt, but I have some of my bankroll on pokerstars and the rest elsewhere.

Pokerstars have migrated to pokerstars.eu already.

 

[Ctuchik]

They didn't shut down the sites, they seized the domains.

All the software/playability/etc is the same, I would be worried if my money was on Absolute Poker and a little on full tilt, but I have some of my bankroll on pokerstars and the rest elsewhere.

Pokerstars have migrated to pokerstars.eu already.

they have also seized the bank accounts that belonged to them.

75 accounts in 11 countries.

If i were you i'd give up on poker for a while as i'm sure investigations will start against most, if not all, the european based poker sites now as well. And you never know what crap they are up to.

 

[ECA]

Given that this is my primary source of income I'm fairly sure I know more about this

The main accounts of these sites are obviously non-US.
Also - the reason these sites are indicted are because they continued to serve US customers are the UIGEA.

European sites, especially the big bookies sites - ie betfair, william hill, ladbrokes/etc don't serve US Customers so don't have any exposure to risk in this situation.

 

[TdC]

So, its basically a tax sting? Or a licence sting?

 

[Ctuchik]

So, its basically a tax sting? Or a licence sting?

Money laundry mainly as far as i understood. which is also a reason why the european counterparts could start to get investigated as well.

There's also rumors that they use computer bots in their games.

Can't find anything that verify that tho.


/edited for clearer info.

 

[ECA]

So, its basically a tax sting? Or a licence sting?

Just before Bush lost his house majority the republicans snuck the UIGEA bill into a port security bill without reading, the basic outcome is that it made it unlawful for US banks to transmit customer funds to online gambling sites.

These charges basically come from the poker sites trying to circumvent that bill and continue servicing US customers by deceiving the banks as to the nature of those payments.

 

[ECA]

Money laundry mainly as far as i understood. which is also a reason why the european counterparts could start to get investigated as well.

There's also rumors that they use computer bots in their games.

Can't find anything that verify that tho.


/edited for clearer info.

 

[Chilly]

It's fucking superb for me as my employer's poker product is 100% legal - we dont take US bets and will now almost certainly get quite a boost from pissed off players who cant/dont want to play on the busted sites for fear of losing money.

 

[ECA]

It's fucking superb for me as my employer's poker product is 100% legal - we dont take US bets and will now almost certainly get quite a boost from pissed off players who cant/dont want to play on the busted sites for fear of losing money.

Yeah I thought you would have posted this before anyone else.
Unfortunately I just don't have much faith in betfair as much as I'd like to