US crackdown on Poker Sites

Friday was another momentous day for the world of online gambling. The United States Federal government launched a crackdown on a number of prominent internet poker sites catering to players in the United States. People within the industry are already calling it Black Friday and for the companies involved it certainly is and will remain a very tough situation.
The internet poker rooms involved are Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. The authorities have also gone after people that have facilitated money transfers. Arrests and charges have been laid which include the founders of the poker companies.

According to reports the Federal Government is seeking to claim over $3 billion in forfeitures and penalties from these companies and they have restraining orders on 76 bank accounts and payment processors. All of this comes against a backdrop of continued debate within some states to legalize internet poker. A few states have tried to pass bills but ultimately none of the bills have received enough support.

The move on Friday has sent shockwaves through the online gambling industry. So much so that some Online Casinos that previously catered to US players have now adjusted their policy and are now no longer accepting play from US players. This will mainly affect players who play on the Rival Casino platform.

This crackdown has certainly made it harder for poker players in the US to find a internet poker room to play at, and it certainly puts a dent in the hopes that regulation of the game was close. It is also makes the collusion between these US facing Poker companies and land based operations highly unlikely. Pokerstars had been publicly courting Steve Wynn, they had already announced a tie up with the Wynn gambling company. In our view because of this action by the Department of Justice it is highly unlikely that this tie up will ever go ahead.

It now seems that Party Poker and 888 Poker took the right course of action way back when UIGEA was first brought into existence. As publicly traded companies they were forced to exit the US market thus leaving space for comapnies like Pokerstars to exploit. As my grandma would have said- The tables seem to have turned.

Read the full DOJ Indictment here.

Written by Greg for Online Keno.