Payouts To Begin After Sites Regain Dot-Coms

Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars have reacquired their respective dot-com sites in an effort to return player funds, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “On April 15th, this Office and the FBI took specific legal action against 11 individuals who allegedly engaged not merely in the operation of illegal gambling businesses, but in massive wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering, despite repeated warnings and clear notice that their conduct was illegal in the United States. No individual player accounts were ever frozen or restrained, and each implicated poker company has at all times been free to reimburse any player’s deposited funds. In fact, this Office expects the companies to return the money that U.S. players entrusted to them, and we will work with the poker companies to facilitate the return of funds to players, as today’s agreements with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker demonstrate.”

Full Tilt Poker said in a press release:

Full Tilt Poker is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to regain the use of its worldwide domain name, www.fulltiltpoker.com.

Although players in the United States will not be permitted to engage in real-money play, the agreement expressly allows for real-money play outside of the United States.

In addition, the agreement represents an important first step towards returning funds to U.S. players because it allows Full Tilt Poker to utilize its domain to facilitate the withdrawal of player funds. But, unfortunately, there remain significant practical and legal impediments to returning funds to players in the immediate future. As a result of the recent enforcement action, there exists no authorized U.S. payment channel through which to make refunds; Full Tilt Poker has no accounting of the millions of dollars of player funds that were seized by the government; and the government has not agreed to permit any of the seized player funds to be returned to the players. Finally, there are numerous legal and jurisdictional issues that must be considered before poker winnings can be paid out to players throughout the United States. While Full Tilt Poker continues to believe that online poker is not illegal under federal law or in 49 states, the indictment and civil forfeiture action filed last Friday require Full Tilt Poker to proceed with caution in this area.

Notwithstanding these issues, Full Tilt Poker is ready to work diligently with the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York to try and resolve these issues and to get players their money back as soon as possible.

PokerStars said in a press release:

The company categorically denies the allegations brought by the US Department of Justice on 15th April 2011 and is taking all steps necessary to robustly defend itself, and the two named individuals. Meanwhile, the company has stopped offering real money poker services in the United States.

Returning US players’ funds is a top priority for PokerStars and the company can now start the process of returning money to its former US customers. All PokerStars player deposits are completely safe. The Isle of Man’s strict licensing laws (similar to other jurisdictions where PokerStars holds licenses) require all funds to be held in accounts that are segregated from company assets. PokerStars has always complied with this requirement and continues to do so. This money is readily available to meet withdrawal demands, indeed the company continues to comply with withdrawal requests from players based outside the US as normal. Outside the U.S., PokerStars continues to operate business as usual.

Comments

hooligan6275
2 years ago

It seems like poker players in other countries have more rights than Americans.

 

Reply

 

calinyjfan
2 years ago

what other shadyness have these sight been doing? Maybe they need to look into the black jack tables as well.

 

Reply

 

pharosrealty@aim.com
2 years ago

is it just me or does the 2nd paragraph read almost like they are going to return ALL deposited funds during the illegal time that Americans were supposed to be closed offline? that would be great .....

 

Reply

 

mbarnett56
2 years ago

I finally was able to get onto fulltilt this morning. Money that I earned from the Take 2 promo was not added to my account. I emailed them at the address that they listed on the news page that popped up when I logged in, and their spam blocker rejected the email. If anyone thinks that we're ever going to see a nickel from these scumbags, I have some real estate that you may be interested in. If this ever clears up, fulltilt would be the 2nd to last place I'd deposit money, with the first being SatanPokerFromHell.com.

 

Reply

 

DarkHours
2 years ago

You're getting potty mouth over 25 bucks? Really? How much did you lose to get the 25? If you were paying attention, D.C. actually legalized intra-state poker a few days prior to friday. Face it, the U.S. governments in most states are desparate for any cash they can get thier hands on. Guess what poker does? Generates revenue. Online poker will likely be legal before you know it. It will have smaller fields as it will be restricted to only american players. They way the feds treat people at the border don't for a second think any "outsiders" will be allowed to play. Now quit your crying and go flip burgers at IHOP.

 

Reply

 

Richenough
2 years ago

great comment.... i can only laugh at the last statement. no poker player should ever say - They wont be able to eat or live. Because McDonalds and Walmart are always hiring. See ya at the stores (not poker table bec you supposed to be broke)

 

 

lctom
2 years ago

THEY DECEIVED PLAYERS FOR YEARS TELLING ONLINE POKER IS A GAME OF SKILL WITH A DEALER DEALING CARDS FROM A RANDOM CARD GENERATOR PLUS LETTING PROS PLAY AT THEIR SITE THAT HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST IN THE COMPANY THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN ANY GAMING CASINO IN THE UNITED STATE POKER IS A GAME OF SKILL YES LIVE POKER NOT ONLINE POKER YOU CANT SEE YOUR OPPONENT FULLTILT AND POKER STARS BROKE THE LAW BAD IT MAYBE GIVING NOTHING TO OUR COUNTRY BUT LINING THE POCKETS OF A FEW POKER PLAYER LEDERER FERGUSON AND OTHERS IF YOU WATCHED FULLTILT THE PROS THEY NEVER PLAYED AT ALL EXCEPT IVEY, DURR HANSEN, AND A FEW OTHER PLAYING EACH OTHER FOR BIG MONEY NONE OF THE OTHER PROS PLAYED THAT MUCH BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT MAKE MONEY AT IT IF SUCH A SUCH A SKILL THEY SHOULD CLEAN UP IN THE LONG RUN BUT ASK MIKE MATOSOW HOW HES DONE ONLINE VERSES LIVE THESE SITES HAVE RAKED BILLIONS NOW ITS TIME TO PAY IT BACK LET CASINOS IN OUR COUNTRY RUN ONLINE POKER REGULATE IT TAX IT AND ENFORCE IT WHERE PLAYER HAVE REPRESENTATION IF THEIR A PROBLEM THEIR INTERESTS WOULD BE LOOKED AFTER NOT THESE MICKEY MOUSE GAMING COMMISSIONS WHEN PLAYERS ROBBED PLAYERS OUT OF MILLION THE COULD SEE THEIR HOLE CARDS WHAT DID THEY DO NOTHING THEY GOT AWAY WITH ALL THOSE GAMING COMMISSIONS ARE A RUBBER STAMPS OKAY GIVE ME A FEE YOUR LICENSED THAT THE JOKE OF THESE POKER SITE AND IF THEIRS A DISAGREEMENT THESE SITES GOOD LUCK THEY TELL YOU TOO GO FK YOUR SELF SO IM GLAD THEIR SHUT DOWN BUT I HOPE ALL THE UNITED STATES PLAYERS GET THEIR MONEY BACK ASP

 

Reply

 

Post a Comment

Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or advertising content or links may be removed and may result in the loss of your Card Player Account. Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly. Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.

 

Your Comment

 

 

Have an account? Please sign in.

User Name:

 

Password:

 

Remember Me

 

OR

 

Lost User Name or Password?
Need an account?

 

Most Viewed Articles