The four major online poker sites, Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, UB.com and Absolute Poker have been indicted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and their websites have been seized.
“This domain name has been seized by the F.B.I. pursuant to an Arrest Warrant in Rem obtained by the United States Attorney’s Office.”, was written instead on the homepages of the affected online poker sites.
According to a press release given by the U.S. Department of Justice, eleven representatives of the sites are being sued for allegedly violating the terms of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. Also, 76 different payment processors and bank accounts have been issued with a restraining order.
PokerStars stated the following regarding the indictment: “As you may have heard, we have had to suspend real money poker services to people based in the U.S. due to legal developments there. The developments are confined to the U.S. and do not have any impact on your ability to continue using our services. Please be assured player balances are safe. There is no cause for concern. For all customers outside the U.S. it is business as usual.”
Alfonse D’Amato, the chairman of the Poker Players Alliance has stated: “On behalf of the millions of poker players across the country, we are shocked at the action taken by the U.S. Department of Justice today against online poker companies and will continue to fight for Americans’ right to participate in the game they enjoy. Online poker is not a crime and should not be treated as such. We are currently gathering all of the information around today’s announcement and will offer detailed analysis when the full facts become available.”
It is speculated that a former payment processor, Daniel Tzverkoff has provided the U.S. government with the details.
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