PokerStars, Full Tilt & AP face DOJ indictments

WOW...

Just when some corporate indicators were pointing toward regulated online poker in the US (Wynn/Pokerstars partnership, Caesars/888 rubber stamp from Nevada etc), the US Department of Justice yesterday went whack with indictments issued to a bunch of people connected with the three biggest US facing online poker rooms...Full Tilt, PokerStars and Absolute Poker.

Here's the DOJ release on the indictments...

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pres...dictmentpr.pdf

This is major news for the US online poker world.

Among those indicted were:

• PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg
• PokerStars payment processing department head Paul Tate
• Full Tilt founder Raymond Bitar
• Full Tilt pmt processing chief Nelson Burtnick
• Absolute Poker founders Scott Tom and Brent Beckley
• payment processing intermediaries Ryan Lang, Ira Rubin, Bradley Franzen and Chad Elie
• vice chairman of and part owner of SunFirst Bank, John Campos

5 domains have been seized and 76 bank accounts in 14 countries frozen.

Oh, and Steve Wynn's much publicized partnership with PokerStars appears to have now dissolved. Wynn Resorts spokesman Michael Weaver announced shortly after the indictments were made public that the partnership had been terminated.

Never a dull moment in online gambling!

Here's the Poker Players Alliance response...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XjP3nSE2r0

This story is going to dominate online gambling for the next few weeks...not just in America - remember there are plenty of non-US players (formerly) at FullTilt, PokerStars and AP who are looking for new places to play poker with the piece of mind that their funds are safe and there's a mad scramble going on from EU based operators for these players.

Here's an extract from an email I received from PartyGaming...

Quote:

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As you are probably aware, the US-facing poker sites of PokerStars, FullTiltPoker and UB/AB have been blocked by the United States Department of Justice. PokerStars and FullTilt have stopped accepting US players and there are widespread reports that players have been experiencing difficulty withdrawing funds.

The developments in the US will not have any impact on PartyPoker or on any of our other brands, because we exited from the US market after the law changed in 2006.

A clear consequence of the action by the US authorities is that poker players who are concerned about their accounts with PokerStars and FullTilt will now look for secure alternatives.

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