PokerStars.com Returned

Just received this statement from PokerStars.com

what about players like me since I started playing the 2011 calendar year I have deposited a total of 40 dollars when this government take over happened my bankroll was a whopping 61 bucks, I think I''ll just leave mine alone, but this is good news for all of you that have big amounts in this site.

Why not cash it out? you cant play on the site.

in hopes that it will be legal to actually play again in the United States I will just pick up where I left off otherwise they can just take it like any other brick and mortar casino would of done, either way I had my fun with that money, at this point I'm sick to my stomach about the whole thing.

You're wishing for something that is just 'never' going to happen (specifically for full tilt/pokerstars/AP).

They are under federal indictment on some pretty serious charges. The cases probably won't be resolved for at least 2-3 years, and even afterwards you won't see these sites come back to the USA market.

If you leave the money there, you are most likely just going to be giving it to the government. You may as well take it out and use it at a USA friendly site or for whatever else you want...don't let the govt take your money.

Well, that makes me feel great.
I am still holding out hope though....

Thanks for the update Nick!

A good step forward. Obviously, I'd prefer for PS to be accessible and legal to US players, but I feel reassured to know that PS on the whole is not going down, and things are likely to remain the same for those outside the US. Hopefully FT to follow suit.

Edit: Oh, just found out this applies to FT as well. Great.

Here's a link to an article saying both PS and FT got there domain names back and player money is safe.

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/0...safe-10249.htm

Awesome news!!!

This would be my concern. If I read the DOJ statement correctly on the .com sites, the DOJ is saying that any transfer or check could be considered doing business with a company that violated the law and therefore the payments may be illegal to accept. Specifically it said wagering and bettors. They could be just sitting there waiting to prosecute every single player that accepts payment when they either deposit a check or take a bank transfer. Also, what if everything you've made was from freerolls and not actually gambling? What about if it was a mix of both? How come Bodog, Carbon, Players Only, etc. are still in business if they are doing the exact same thing? Double standard? OR are they sitting there taking deposits and wagers/bets in full government oversight? Players Only chat told me this morning that they are operating as usual and could even take my US credit card but when asked about why FTP/PS/UB and not them or if they are double dealing with the US government to gather information on players, if not actually providing an avenue to get proof to prosecute US players........boilerplate: I'm sorry but I don't have any further information to give you except we are unaffected.

I'm not stupid but I don't get it. They could be setting up players for a fall here or for some reason the other rooms have payed off the DOJ to avoid prosecution? You can't tell me the check I receive from Carbon isn't coming through the same illegal channels. If they weren't and a bank is processing payments for poker then why wouldn't FTP/PS/UB have used them also?

Don't trust it one bit but I'm not gonna stop playing freerolls on the sites where they are allowed. Hopefully FTP can actually come through with a WSOP package legally as well. Makes it hard to decide where to play if at all doesn't it? What a joke! Kinda like online Nintendo poker is. :P

will we be able to transfer funds through p2p transfers?

nevermind still cant transfer

This can only be good news and potentially some sort of plus for the Americans.

I suppose this sounds like a little bit of headway towards getting our money back. I cant imagine the govt would do much more than take out their cut for "taxes".

You are reading the "seized" message that appeared when they seized the sites. That was before this agreement was reached to allow w/d of players money.

The thing I don't understand is that they say it's illegal etc. However, didn't the government TAX you on poker winnings when you played?

It seems they knew it was going on but thought we will tax them anyway on it. That makes no sense. It's like saying they would tax drug dealers on their earnings yet say it's illegal.

This sounds so very contridicting...

Its all about the money in the end. If the government isnt getting a piece of the pie then its illegal. That's one of the main reasons some drugs like marijuana aren't legal because the government cannot regulate it. They knew it was going on for awhile, only reason they finally stopped it is due to the fact that they are pushing legislation through congress now to regulate online poker meaning even more taxes collect. Its all greed in the end. They wanted a bigger piece of the pie.

honestly i think the legalization and regulation of online poker is a lot closer to happening than a lot of people think....its just my opinion but i think thats one reason that they decided to finally clamp down on tilt and stars....hit em for what they can now b4 they regulate and legalize it then not really be able to do anything about funds it made b4 it was legalized this way they get their share of the pie pre legalization and post legalization because if online poker was legalized b4 they actually "slapped them on the wrist" (stars and tilt) then there would have been nothing they could have really dont to them in an online poker legal world.....but again im a nobody but its just my opinion

that great and all that they got there .com back

but still can't play real money!!!!

seriously americans will never play on the three indicted sites ever again. never. ever. never ever.

So I'm kinda torn here if I should withdraw or wait it out. I'm kinda leaning towards cashing out but anyone have any opinions on which method would be best? I've never cashed out before so I have no idea

EDIT: nevermind, I guess check is the only option anyway for US players

what are you torn between? withdrawing and having the money, or not withdrawing and not being able to do anything with the money?

I'm waiting to see what plays out with the DOJ, I'm going to wait 2 weeks before withdrawing all the money on Stars, and tilt, AB I might still have a problem get my money from that site

I do want to withdraw, but I just looked and my only options are eCheck and a wire transfer neither of which, when bubbled in, give me the chance to hit the submit button so I'm stumped

Just a Guess but if you've never withdrawn before the site may need to see documents and such?

Any recommendations on how I go about doing that? I'm probably just going to email stars

I'm a little confused about this recent development. Is the DOJ giving a temporary pass to the UIGEA to allow players to transfer their funds to their banks?

This goes as far back as Al Capone. The feds had trouble convicting him for any illegal activities, but they DID convict him on tax evasion. Same with Gotti iirc, and a lot of others inbetween.

The feds may not be able to get convictions on certain illegal activites, but when taxes on money received are not claimed or paid, it's tax evasion where they have always seen prosecutorial success.

There have also been cases involving such professions as prostitution. They can't get convictions on the prostitution activities, but if there was provable income from the activity, then the tax evasion charges work for the feds.

What the DoJ is doing to the sites is quite similar too. They may not get convictions on the 'gaming/gambling' charges, but the wire fraud etc may well stick and the 'gambling' charges are the 'throw-away'... plea bargain charges.

*******************************

Tried to withdraw from PS but was told that option is not yet available but would be soon.

Finally some good news for our American friends, it may not be that they can play again, but at least they can take their hard won money off Poker Stars.

Now lets hope that they can get their money off Tilt and UB soon.

I e-mailed them about what this means to U.S. players being allowed to withdraw their funds from their accounts, does this mean that we will never have hopes of playing at pokerstars again for real money or what?


As usual I got an unclear response about how poker players outside the U.S. will be unaffected by all this and that ALL Pokerstar balances are safe and that was all.

Because I never withdrew any funds in the 4 years I did play at Pokerstars, I can just imagine the hoops I would have to jump through to get my money out, being that it is a small amount of money I'm just going to let it sit in my account.

I am more concerned about having the right to play online poker at Pokerstars or any other sites that were affected by this government takeover, as far as that goes I have to say it's not looking good.

[quote=PooffyFooffy;1728879]Well, that makes me feel great.
I am still holding out hope though....

[quote]

Hope to play again on Stars & FTP? From what I've heard it's 'never' going to happen. There was an excellent podcast on this week's Pokercast (4hrs. in length), going into details about alot of stuff. It helped me to gain a better understanding of the situation.

Really good news to hear that US folks will be able to get their dollars off of Stars soon. This has got to have put soooo many people in such a bad spot. The loss of Fulltilt & Pokerstars to the US market has just such a huge detrimental effect on poker... both online & live (ie. I'm sure we can expect numbers to be down considerably at the WSOP this year).

[quote=Poker Orifice;1729930][quote=PooffyFooffy;1728879]Well, that makes me feel great.
I am still holding out hope though....

from what I hear from that podcast was that if pokerstars and tilt and Ab went under new ownership that they could get a new license that would alow us players back in to the market with the new bill that is on the table