message depokercollectif
Hi Stephane,
Situation:
As many of you may well be aware Black Friday 15th of April 2011, will be marked down as the end of unregulated online poker in America, however it will not end online poker as we know it!
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged the founders of online poker sites PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet with fraud and conspiracy in an indictment unsealed Friday morning.
A total of five domain names, including UB.com, PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, have been seized by the DOJ. Restraining orders were also issued for 75 bank accounts used by the poker sites and payment processors.
The indictment alleges that the poker companies worked with payment processors to fool U.S. banks into processing payments to and from players. All 11 defendants have been charged with Conspiracy to Violate Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which has a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross amount won or lost and three years supervised release.
The founders of the three poker sites have been charged with Violation of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act , which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross amount won or lost and three years supervised release, and Operation of Illegal Gambling Business, which also carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross amount won or lost and three years supervised release plus the forfeiture of proceeds of offense.
The other charges are Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud and Money Laundering Conspiracy.
The DOJ is seeking $3 billion in penalties from the companies.
PokerStars has since prevented U.S. based players from accessing any cash games or tournaments on their site.
What it means for you, the poker player……
From the Players perspective (American Players):
Bankrolls:
The state of the nation is unknown at the moment. We would advise that if you can make p2p transfers to a friend living outside America, it would be wise to do so ASAP. We have a feeling that all American bankrolls may be tied up for months, just like funds in Neteller were post October 2006.
Games:
Now is the time to act and organise your VPN connection www.strongvpn.com please visit our offers page for the best deal. If you are a serious or professional poker player, we would strongly recommend you look into opening an offshore bank account (such as HSBC offshore account in Isle of Man http://www.offshore.hsbc.com/1/2/international/home). It’s completely legal, and you get a debit card which can be used world wide. Plus you have a holding account in the EU with which you can safely deposit your bankroll.
However, until the landscape becomes clear, your best bet is to start playing at our EU based sites (such as ipoker, ongame, 888, party). All of these can be accessed and played on via VPN, and in fact many of our American players already do this. Do not sit there complaining or worrying, act now and setup these things (VPN, offshore bank account, moneybookers account) NOW.
You may not be able to access or cashout your existing bankroll, but it doesn’t mean you cant drop down a few levels, and grind up a new bankroll on these juicy EU sites!
Also do not forget that online poker is growing rapidly in Asia and Italy and we provide the best deals for the rooms in these marketplaces. Yes the rake is crazy, but the players are shit. Also it may be an idea to start looking to diversify your bankroll building by getting into Forex trading: http://FifthStreetTrading.com?af=rbe
We are here to help and ensure you have the smoothest possible ride during these times, so please contact our support if you need help with any of the above.
From the Players perspective (Euro and non US players):
Bankrolls:
From speaking with my contact at FTP this morning, they indicated that all funds are safe for our non US players, and you will continue to be able to utilise 3rd party wallets such as moneybookers and neteller to move funds. The speed of these cashouts are unknown, but I’m testing cashouts from all 4 sites now so will report back about the speed of the cashout to Moneybookers.
Games:
Wind back the clock 5 years and game on. For years Pokerstars and FTP have dominated the marketplace, but for those of you who used to play pre 2006, you will all remember Party was the be all and end all in online poker – a true market leader. The UIEGA hit Party hard and they took a route which would see them licensed in the EU, treading water until a day like this arrived – why else would they settle with the Department of Justice for ~$300 million?
From speaking with our contact at Party Poker today, he told me traffic is up 28% and their share price has increased 7% since the DOJ took action. This trend will continue in the coming weeks and months.
The European and Asian sites will grow exponentially in the next 6-12 months. Now that FTP and Stars will lose a huge amount of liquidity from shutting off American players, Euro players who did play on these sites, will migrate to ongame, ipoker, 888 and party. This means a huge boost of liquidity on these sites.
If you have always simply played at FTP and been happy with your 27% rakeback or crap FPP points on stars, now you can move to the Euro networks, get a much better Rakeback deal and be assured of increased game variety, table selection, bigger tournaments and better games. Remember poker is all about position and table selection.
For the past couple of years, FTP, AP/UB and Stars have been terrible towards their players and affiliates, cutting margins and basically acting like a monster which no one could stop. Well finally we have a level playing fields again, and now its time to support those European Sites who have acted correctly for the past 5 years.
These EU sites have been the best to work with, and now its time for them to shine, so sign up there and get playing. They will be spending huge amounts of marketing dollars in the wake of the DOJ announcements, so we will see a surge in activity. So if you did only play on FTP or Stars, signup straight away to ipoker, 888, ongame or party.
We provide the best Rakeback deals on all these sites, as well as paying you your Rakeback on demand. This ensures you only have to worry about finding the best games and check raising at the right time!
Like I’ve said above to the US players, maybe you should also check out our Italian or Asian sites; that is if you’re happy playing against donkeys who still play like its 2005.
Again if you need any help or have questions about the situation, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team.
Some further reading:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/53107543/Indictment-DOJ-vs-Scheinberg-Bitar-Tom-et-al
http://www.cardrunners.com/blog/Zimba
http://www.infiniteedgegaming.com/random-thoughts/about-time/
http://bwop.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-thoughts-on-online-poker-indictments.html
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/04/chicken-little/
http://pokerati.com/2011/04/15/poker-panic-11-update-on-domain-name-seizures/
http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/web-kings-life-on-the-line/story-fn6ck45n-1226039907165
http://ftrain.blogspot.com/2010/12/whats-next-for-us-online-poker.html
Good luck on the (EU and Asian) tables!
PokerCollectif and Rakeback Engine Management
Mise en cause par Pokerstars et Fulltilt Poker pour avoir détourner des fonds (il était un des intermédiaires de paiement) il aurait négocié sa peine avec le ministère de la justice en échange d’informations. Voir l’article complet à ce sujet
