Poker Stars returning funds to US players

In a day that has been ironically referred to as Black Friday by the online poker community, the US Department of Justice seized the .com domain names of Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, thereby ending the era of legalized online poker playing within the United States. Almost a dozen executives at these companies have been indicted over the incidents of that day as well, creating a huge firestorm of controversy surrounding this issue yet again.

Poker Stars has managed to create a deal with the US government that will see them start processing payments back to their US customers through a bank that has been approved by the same government. Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker have not been so lucky to date and because of that players at those sites that live in the United States will likely still have to wait a while before they start to see any of the money that they have in their websites.

The poker community at large has been set aflame by the actions of the US government, an anger that has only been fuelled by the contrast between the actions of government agents and the willingness of all of the online poker sites to go to great lengths and expense in order to reimburse their loyal customers, something that they have done each and every time the government has started playing this particular tune.

An interesting aspect of this is that many professionals based in the United States have now decided to leave the country because of what happened on Black Friday. Although even emigration to nearby Canada is difficult for people not originally from that country, this could be the beginning of the end of the stranglehold on poker capitol of the world that Las Vegas has held to this point. The long-term ramifications of what that could mean are unknown as of yet, but it is quite possible that continuing current persecutory actions could result in the US government cutting off their nose to spite their face. Only time will tell if Black Friday earns its name or turns out in fact to be a good move on the government’s part.

UB and AP Not Likely To Pay US Players

Absolute poker and UB are not going to pay US players fund. Here is The UB employees Statement.

"I have been asked to post this message on behalf of an employee of Absolute / UB.
A group of investors have made an offer to take over the Absolute Poker/UB non-US business. The new owners were presented to key staff as the new Management of the Operation. They would come in and take over all liabilities of the Non-US database, set up a new network on which they could play and PAY players.

Staff is disgusted to learn that Management of Absolute suddenly terminated the deal with what must have been a heroic group of individuals. However the deal is off. Now Absolute will use all the free funds (not confiscated), about USD 16.000.000, to set up this new business and pay non-US players, in portions. Furthermore they will blame DOJ for US players not being paid.

This also explains why cashout limits where increased in the last days. US player balances are now being used to pay Non-US customers. This is illegal even in Costa Rica or Antigua. It needs to be stopped. Someone needs to be held accountable.

Staff is disgusted by all of this and wants this message to come out. If players don’t organize against Absolute and its owner Blanca Games – the US money will be lost forever. From what my source is saying the only route is to file injunction in Antigua against the legal owner of the company. He runs the show and he controls the money – on direct order from the indicted!

The Management has no intention to pay the US players. They are going to steal their money, once again. This time they will use it to set up a new business. They will claim US balances are held by FBI unless FORCED to act responsibly.

Look at how easy they found 3million to pay employees when there was a risk that all assets in CR were to be to be seized 2 days ago. Blanca games have more than $16.000.000 in cash.

Players need to know this. They need to file injunction against the legal owner Stuart Gordon in Antigua to freeze the funds and file a criminal claim with the local police to send him to jail, if he fails to comply. The Management are collectively defrauding US players to set up a new business. All the Staff want to force the management to do the morally correct thing on behalf of all the players – for once.

US players need to get organized. Many people have balances in the high 100’s of thousands. The US players should between you file a lawsuit in Antigua against the legal owner Stuart Gordon. He has the cash and is cooperating with those indicted on this project. The Staff hope that someone can do this to find a solution for players.

Maybe DOJ can act as well? Somebody should do something.""

PokerStars offices raided in Costa Rica

PokerBonusInfo has found that the Costa Rica offices from the world's biggest internet poker site, PokerStars, continues to be raided today by local government bodies, most probably regarding the the US States Department of Justice, although which has not yet been confirmed.

"PokerStars is constantly on the operate the world's biggest poker site, business as always," a PokerStars repetition published about the TwoPlusTwo Forum, both reassuring players and verifying the storyline. "It is a fact the OIJ is presently in the PokerStars Costa Rican office and it has sent employees home temporarily, but employees will have the ability to return inside a couple of hrs. PokerStars needs work revisit business as always quickly because this action was probably taken like a reaction to problems felt by other local companies within the same industry."

Initial gossips recommended the U.S. government was associated with the raid, but sources to date confirm just the participation of local government bodies. PokerStars had recently been permitting gamers to withdraw obligations, inside a separate agreement with U.S. government bodies. Not sure yet how what is the news will affect that situation.

As to the stage from the raid and also the participation from the Costa Rican government, most info here is speculation, though some convincing comments happen to be made recommending that government bodies fear the organization might not pay its employees. Unconfirmed reviews also claim that the CEREUS headquarters were raided, too. More info will be posted as soon as available on this issue.

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