Not the news I wanted to share about the gambling industry. The DOJ has seized 5 major poker domains from the world's largest poker sites: Pokerstars, fulltiltpoker, UB.com, ultimatebet and absolutepoker.com. Poker players are worried that they won't get their money and poker affiliates are gutted they might lose their commissions. http://gaffg.com/blog/us-poker-domains-sezied-doj/ http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/15/news/economy/online_poker_indictments/index.htm?hpt=T2
You can still play for real money with pokerstars, without real money they would never exist. Pokerstars has now switched to pokerstars.eu domain for the time being and it seems to be almost business as usual. What is more shocking is getting these domains shut down outside of the United States. I guess ICANN does whatever America says
This is a big blow to the owners of these sites as well as the local and international gamblers who have been using these sites for so long. Winning or loosing for just on luck and skill, but because of this shut down, I guess how many of them will be jobless lol !!! However I believe they were violating all the rules of the US Government and were hiding their money in different banks. Well then this is the right decision and hey should pay for it
I've read about this on another poker forum. This frustrates me a lot, as I thought we we're getting closer to legalizing online poker. But the government can be such a pain...It's just a matter of time before US players will be able to play poker online at these sites again.
I feel really bad for the US poker players and affiliate marketers targeting US players. I hope this gets sorted soon. For poker affiliates, this sucks. I do think, however, a good idea is taking advantage of the promotions of other poker sites. A lot of non-US players will be worried about their money at Full Tilt and Poker Stars and will be looking to join other sites. The other sites, obviously, realize this as well and are already pushing new promotions. Titan poker, for example, is offering a 200 percent sign-up bonus up to $1000. Oh, and there is also the sites that still cater to US players, like bodog. I'd feel a bit bad about advising US players to sign up anywhere for the time being, however, who knows what the US authorities come up with next.
I know many poker affiliates that are set to lose 5 figures per month over this issue on just full tilt and pokerstars alone. This might have actually been kickstarted and lobbied by party poker as they paid I think the doj last year $300 million to clear their name and basically prepare to re-enter the US markets again. There is a lot of discussion behind the scenes that gambling in America is going to be regulated very soon. So party poker can cashin by getting the top 2 giants out of the way and the same applies for the casinos in Las Vegas. Wipe out the competition, legalize the game and own it.
"Wipe out the competition, legalize the game and own it. " I know it's what everybody is saying but I don't see the connection. Stars and Tilt would probably not get licenses even if it was legalized so everybody would start playing with the legal sites so they would have gone out of business anyways. I don't think it will be legalized any time soon.
How are they going to go after pokerstars but leave bodog alone? They pick and choose whoever they can get the most $ from
I actually learned the game at POKERSTARS and will miss the dream of winning big money I do think this will be sorted and regulated as a lot of folks with a lot of pull are involved with these sites.
more domains seized but still many sportsbooks, poker rooms and casinos not affected, or rather not affected yet http://gaffg.com/blog/more-igaming-domain-seizures-affiliate-program-closures/