PokerStars.com Returned

Just received this statement from pokerstars.com

Pokerstars.com said:

Statement from PokerStars – as at 20 April 2011 - 16:00 BST

PokerStars is pleased to confirm that the US Department of Justice has agreed to release the www.pokerstars.com domain name for use by PokerStars outside the US.

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.

PokerStars' services outside the US are not affected. The Company has received assurance from the Isle of Man regulator that its licence status is unchanged. The company remains compliant with all of its other international licences.

Following discussions with the US Department of Justice, PokerStars has now entered into an Agreement which has been publicly filed. The US Department of Justice Agreement expressly states that the domain name can be used by PokerStars outside the US to facilitate the provision of real money poker services, and that PokerStars can pay out player balances to its former customers in the US.

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 licences) 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 US PokerStars continues to operate business as usual.

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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.

curly said:

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.

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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.

curly said:

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.

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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.

PlayedYou73 said:

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

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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/...-regain-com-domain-names-money-safe-10249.htm

Awesome news!!!

beantownmaniac said:

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."​

Do you think the U.S. government is getting ready to grab the U.S. players money seeing how it was illegally transferred? It wouldn't surprise me one bit.​

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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.

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".

AAChipMagnet said:

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.

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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...

ramdeebam said:

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...

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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.

PooffyFooffy said:

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

Thanks for the update Nick!

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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!!!!

PooffyFooffy said:

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

Thanks for the update Nick!

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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?

soccerrunner8098 said:

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

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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