U.S. Government Freezes American Player Payouts

The United States government has made a move that has shocked many U.S. based online poker players and the poker sites that service them. They have seized the payouts (winnings) of 27,000 American players, worth more then $30 million.

Poker sites with Account Services and Allied Systems processing systems found that two of its banking partners, Wells Fargo and Citibank, were ordered by the government to freeze money in their accounts.

Pokerstars has chosen not to make any comment concerning the matter. However, Full Tilt has. They recently reported that the funds in question “remain safe and secure” and that “The issue involving the freezing of some funds affected only one of the many check processors that Full Tilt Poker uses to support player withdrawals.”

The freezing of the accounts was the doing of the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York. The reasoning behind the move was the notion that online gambling constitutes an illegal activity as defined in the U.S. code “covering the prohibition of illegal gambling businesses.”

The only poker sites affected thus far, are Pokerstars and Full Tilt. Insiders contend that this will likely mean more business for other major poker sites, particularly Playtech Ltd and Party Gaming because they weren’t affected by the seizure and thus player confidence remains high in these sites.

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