• Home
• Poker Reviews
• Poker Bonus
• Poker Strategy
• Poker Rules
• Poker Players
• Mac Poker

• Poker Freerolls
• Poker News

Subscribe

Why Did the US Seize Online Poker Domains?

Online poker in the US has been questionable for quite some time. The shakiness of the industry is a result of constant back and forth of state and federal governments trying to come to terms with Internet poker and utterly failing time and time again.

Now that the FBI took down the domain names to four of the biggest online poker sites in the US (FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com, AbsolutePoker.com, and PokerStars.com), and brought charges against 11 affiliated executives, some are hypothesizing that it was only to make way for the move in of land-based casinos. It should be noted that all domains were returned to their poker brands; however, they were given back in agreement that these sites would no longer accept US players. There are online poker sites still accepting US players though.

It isn’t a secret either that the US online poker industry was generating billions of dollars in revenue and $0 was going to the US government in taxes. The fact that the US government frowns upon online poker in general has forced all online poker companies to base their businesses elsewhere, leaving no taxable income for the US. The UIGEA then made it illegal for online payment processors to transfer online funds for the purposes of Internet gambling, which further alienated the industry, all the while making the land-based gambling institutions in big US gambling cities like Las Vegas happier and happier.

Now that the big online poker brands are out of the picture, the 15 million US poker players who play poker online are still here and in need of online poker services in the US, and it may just be those big name Vegas brands that are planning to move in and take root, as online poker isn’t the only form of online gambling that’s attracted US players. Online casino in the US is a big deal as well, but the feds decided to attack online poker to make a bigger impact. Only time will tell how the story will unfold in the future.

Online Poker Domains Re-instated-Still No US Play

It appears as if the recently shut down online poker sites, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, have cut a deal with the US Attorney’s office last week. These sites will regain the ownership of their domain names in order to return money to US players, which is great news for online poker players in the US who had their accounts frozen the Friday before last. This was all a result of the recent seizure by the FBI of online poker sites PokerStars.com and FullTiltPoker.com.

For online US poker sites not restricting US players, click here.

Under the terms of the agreement, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars agreed to prohibit real money poker services to US players, something they had already done upon losing their domains.

Absolute Poker also chimed in late Thursday. All three sites issued statements that put returning US players funds at the forefront of their concerns. They also mentioned the legalities that were underway to contest the US government charges that had been filed when the domains were seized on what is now being called Black Friday in the online poker community.

The big three poker sites involved continue to claim their innocence against the money laundering, fraud, and online gambling charges brought against them and 11 of their executives.

Will the US Government have to Face WTO… Again?

Many online poker rooms hold licensure in Antigua and Barbuda. Now the small island country is asking the World Trade Organization (WTO) to investigate the validity of the recent seizure of online poker domains of FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com, UB.com, and AbsolutePoker.com, as well as the indictments served by the US Department of Justice against executives of these online poker rooms.

For online poker sites still accepting US registrants, click here.

The position of Antigua has been from the beginning that the laws held by the US government regarding online poker were illegitimate under the WTO because gambling is legal in pretty much every US state in some form or another whether it is casino gambling, lottery, or some other form of betting. In addition, the US allows legal online bets to be placed on state regulated horseracing.
Legal advisor to the Caribbean government, Mark Mendel, stated in a Reuters article, “I don’t think there’s another country in the world that puts people in jail for engaging in trade that’s lawful under international law… It’s as if Antigua would put Americans in jail for selling pineapples.”

There have been many European countries that have found difficulty with European Union laws as they’ve regulated online gambling to their own stipulations and requirements. Now the US may have to face consideration of WTO laws before they can work out their own legislature. The same article claims that the US has been out ruled by the WTO in the past, stating that “[The WTO] ruled in 2005 that the United States violated international agreements on trade in services by prosecuting the operators of offshore Internet gambling sites. The WTO rejected the U.S. argument that the restrictions were necessary to protect public morality.”

Antigua diplomats will decide this weekend whether or not they will take the case back to the WTO.

Future of the Duke/Pollack Poker League

Although there are still online poker sites that take USA players, the recent shut down of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and UB.com to USA players may be a blessing in disguise for the brainchild poker league of Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack.

Duke and Pollack have been ironing out the details of this unnamed poker league over the past couple months, but the plans for this league may have just gotten a lot simpler. The competing tournament events in the USA are no longer, including the PokerStars NAPT and the long awaited Full Tilt Poker Onyx Cup that was going to be all the buzz in Vegas. Neither of these tournaments will take place, leaving pros with few choices for live action.

The effect that the giant poker sites departure from the USA market will have on the industry will ultimately trickle down to offline poker business. Duke’s pro-only poker tour now has little to no competition and with no affiliation with any online entity, has a very nice chance of receiving a lot of attention and attracting a lot of interested players who don’t really have their choice of tournaments anymore. With the void left in the market by the withdrawal of Full Tilt and PokerStars, there will be many players and pros looking for tournaments to make their living at, not to mention all the pros who are facing losing their sponsorships. Imagine a WSOP, a mainly USA televised event, with no PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, Absolute.com, or UB.com patches, hats, and shirts to advertise to the US market.

The future looks bright for the Pollack-Duke poker league, and they could even be in line to land a big television deal, which will only make it even more attractive to the biggest pros in the world. FOX and ESPN will now have to fill the spots after having to cancel PokerStars Big Game, PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge, PokerSTars NAPT, and the ESPN Poker Club.

USA Legal Poker Sites

In light of the recent unfortunate seizure of the domains FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com, AbsolutePoker.com, and UB.com, millions of online poker players have been left without an online poker site to play at. Shut out from these poker sites is a grim reminder of what happened in 2006 when PartyPoker abruptly rejected USA players when the UIGEA was passed. But just as it was then, there are still USA legal poker sites available. It just takes a deposit.

Eleven indictments were made, 76 bank accounts were seized, along with five domains, but damage control has already cleaned up what could have been a big mess. However, these online poker giants have probably anticipated this happening and were ready when it did. They’ve all already redirected their non-USA players to .eu or .uk domains and reverted their USA players to non-real money accounts, so that they can still play at their sites all they want, but not for real money.

Luckily for these players, there are still viable USA legal poker sites that every USA player can play at again, and they even offer excellent new player deposit bonuses and VIP programs, so in week or two, as a USA player, you’ll never know the difference. As the unplaced USA players begin to find new homes on other networks, guaranteed tournaments will start to grow, and new online poker rooms will take over the market, just like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker did after PartyPoker closed their doors to USA players.

So don’t fret, just get a new account and make a deposit, and start going after all those fish who would otherwise be playing on Absolute Poker or UB.com. They are now yours for the taking. It’s A-ok to play at these USA legal poker sites.

Who Is Responsible for the FBI Attacks on Online Poker?

It has been rumored that the main suspect who is behind the online poker site indictments and domain seizures last week is 28-year-old Australian payment processor Daniel Tzvetkoff. Tzvetkoff was arrested last year by the FBI for participating in the processing of more than $500 million in illegal online poker transactions for the top online poker sites over a two-year span.

If you are looking for an online poker site that accepts USA players, click here.

Tzvetkoff was facing up to 75 years in prison, but it is believed that he may have cut a deal, so that he may take a lighter sentence or trade his freedom for informing the FBI of the illegal money transactions.

US District Attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown says, “He knows how to reverse-engineer transactions to determine its original source.”

And on April 15, 2011, US Southern District of New York indicted founders of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker with charges of money laundering, illegal gambling, and bank fraud. In addition, 76 bank accounts, along with the five domain names of the aforementioned poker sites were seized. The companies are furthermore accused of camouflaging gambling payments from USA players as “payments to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls.”

It has also been alleged that Tzvetkoff was using Intabill (his payment processing company) to process more than $500 million in transactions for the major Internet poker sites. Now he’s purportedly exposing the goings on of their organizations to the FBI.

If this is all true, Tzvetkoff may have single handedly been responsible for changing online poker as we know it, and though it will never be the same, new online poker rooms will move in to take the place of those now shut out of the US market are downgraded to PartyPoker status because he 15 million online poker players in the US will still play online poker and the billions of dollars that US players spend on online poker will still be reserved for just that.

Online Poker Rooms that Accept Americans

If you are looking for an online poker room that accepts Americans, look no further. Click here to find online poker rooms that accept Americans. American players have been forced to find new online poker homes after being kicked out of their real money accounts by PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute, and UB.com, which may be a daunting task for some. But it’s really not that hard, especially if you visit USPokerSites.com, where you will find a massive amount of information on online poker rooms that accept Americans.

Former US players at FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com, AbsolutePoker.com, and UB.com are perfectly safe in depositing their money at other US online poker rooms. The players are not in the wrong here and it is legal and okay to play online poker from the comforts of your own home within the US. Americans can and will continue to play online poker at the many online poker rooms that accept Americans.

These alternatives provide adequate software platforms with all the same options and features that you’ve become accustomed to at any of the big four online poker sites. There are also great promotions for US players as well as easy deposit options and best of all massive new player deposit bonuses for all new US players. Just simply deposit and play the same way you did at Full Tilt, PokerStars, Absolute, or UB.com.

The truth is that online poker in the US is changing, but it’s not going anywhere. As the government attacks Internet poker in hopes to regulate it, the players too will adapt and do what is necessary to continue playing. Therefore, there will always be online poker sites that accept Americans.

US Poker Sites that Are Still Around

After last week’s abrupt seizure of online poker sites FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com, AbsolutePoker.com, and UB.com, many US poker players are left wondering are there any US poker sites still around? And the answer is yes. You can find US poker sites that are still around here.

While US players can no longer play for real money at the above mentioned online poker sites, they can still play for play money. In fact, the poker sites will be getting their domains back and will be in operating order for play money poker, though the real money players will be using the new domains PokerStars.eu and FullTiltPoker.co.uk.

Now that the buzz has cooled off a little, we are at a point where we can take a step back from the situation and re-evaluate. The fact is that US poker is not going anywhere. It’s here to stay, despite the FBI’s nosing into an industry that is out of their league.

There are still US poker sites around that accept US players, and they are perfectly acceptable in terms of reliability, software, and overall traffic. In fact there has been an influx in US traffic at all of the sites that do still accept US players as a direct result of the no-US player rule at the big four online poker sites that were stopped dead in their tracks last Friday.

The bottom line is that there are still US poker sites around, and they all offer incredibly decent new player bonuses that are easy to clear. The promotions are also comparable to those of PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker.

The Future of Sunday Guaranteed Tournaments

Although there are US poker sites with guaranteed tournaments still open to US players, without US players, the weekend big money guaranteed tournaments at PokerStars saw some of the lowest prize pools in years. Without US players, PokerStars knew they couldn’t make their usual guarantees, so in anticipation of the diminished traffic, they lowered them. This made for a very unusual Sunday like online poker has not seen in a long time with no US players in the winner spots.

At PokerStars, the Sunday Warm-Up was the first to show drastic drops. This is a $215 No Limit Hold ‘em event that typically promises a $750K guaranteed pot. However last weekend, it was reduced to $500K. The player field was less about a thousand from the week before (from 4,634 to 3,737). The prize pool the week before was almost $930K. This past Sunday, it was just under $750K, and while 675 players were paid the week before, only 540 players were paid this week. While these numbers aren’t terrible, they do exhibit a non-US player field that may in fact never see US traffic again. However, there are other online poker sites that take US players, and these poker sites have guaranteed Sunday tourneys as well, just not as big, but definitely just as competitive and exciting.

PokerStars’ Sunday Million was about the same, reduced from $1.5 million to $1 million and it saw about 2,000 players less than the previous week. This is the story now and without US traffic, it’s just the way it will be from now on. The other online poker sites that are still accepting US players will have to prepare to pick up the slack on Sundays.

Full Tilt Poker’s Statement to Players

While Full Tilt Poker does not accept US players anymore, there are US poker sites that do take new player registration from US players.

Now that FullTiltPoker.com is FullTiltPoker.co.uk, if US players visit that site, a message comes up straight from Dublin, Ireland. It suggests that Full Tilt Poker is saddened by the charges brought up against CEO Raymond Bitar and employee Nelson Burtnick, offering them full support.

They state that online poker is a game of skill that is enjoyed by tens of millions of players in the US and throughout the entire world. They ensure that they remain committed to preserving rights of players to play poker online.

It goes on to say that Mr. Bitar, along with Full Tilt Poker, believe that online poker is legal, as do “the best legal minds in the United States.” It continues, “Full Tilt Poker is, and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abiding by the law.”

Mr. Bitar states, “I am surprised and disappointed by the government’s decision to bring these charges. I look forward to Mr. Burtnick’s and my exoneration.”

Then the bad news comes in. They say that as a result of all of this, unfortunately, “Full Tilt Poker has decided that it must suspend ‘real money’ play in the United States until this case is resolved.” Hopefully this will be sooner than later. Meanwhile, it’s business as usual in non-US countries. They also give a phone number to call, but could you imagine actually getting through to someone when hundreds of thousands of players are calling at the same time wanting to know how to get their money, what will become of their reward points, etc.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Best Poker Bonus at 888 Poker 100% up to $600/£400/€400 sign up bonus plus £5/$8/€6 FREE to new players(No USA Players) .

Copyright © 2009 Online Poker News | Partners | Sitemap