Online Poker Crackdown in the US

April 23, 2011 | News Category: Gaming Law

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The United States Department of Justice has been known to be against online gambling for some time now, and their recent actions against a number of online poker sites has moved the fight against online gambling up a notch.

Last week, the FBI rocked the online gambling world by shutting down three of the most well known and popular online poker sites. Not only did the FBI shut down Full Tilt Poker.com, Absolute Poker, and Poker Stars.com websites, they also seized the online poker companies, and arrested three businessmen that are connected to banks or Internet payment processing companies. Those poker sites from the same companies that are registered in the United Kingdom or in any other countries have not been affected. This means that those who play at Poker Stars.co.uk will not be affected by this seizure.

For those attempting to log onto one of these sites, they will be met with a page that shows the US Department of Justice logo, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation logo, along with a letter explaining the seizure.

The letter reads as follows: "This domain name has been seized by the F.B.I. pursuant to an Arrest Warrant in Rem obtained by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of new York."

The message then quotes two laws, one explaining that anyone who has any connection to operating or owning any "part of an illegal gambling business" will have committed "a federal crime."

Somewhat concerning for the online poker site patrons is the next part that reads as follows: "For persons engaged in the business of betting or wagering, it is also a federal crime to knowingly accept, in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling, credit, electronic fund transfers, or checks."

It then states that those who violate any of the above laws could be fined up to $250,000 and could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

There have also been thousands of real money accounts that have been frozen by the Department of Justice, which means that players will have no access to their money for an undetermined amount of time. It is possible that these funds may never be returned to the poker players, however nobody knows the answer to this question at this time.