02 May 11

The Current Situation Around "Black Friday"

Two weeks have passed since the US Department of Justice charged PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. We take a look at the situation and bring you up to speed.

Chief Prosecutor Preet Bharara

What has happened?

In case you missed it, here's a quick update: On April 15, the FBI and the US Department of Justice seized the internet domains of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UltimateBet and charged their owners and executives.

The charges are built around allegations that these poker rooms accepted payments from US customers through a complex clandestine operation, disguising poker deposits as payment to online merchants that were set up by the poker rooms. As a consequence, Americans are no longer allowed to play with the aforementioned rooms. A more detailed overview can be found here.

The payout situation for player for non-US players

When the news broke two weeks ago, many players, including many PokerStrategists, responded by trying to cash out their funds from the affected rooms. Even though some were able to do so without any issues, many experienced significant delays and some payout options were disabled for the time being.

Full Tilt Poker: Full Tilt Poker does not offer Moneybookers for cashouts as of now. This issue is supposed to be resolved "hopefully soon" as stated by Full Tilt Poker spokesperson FTPDoug in a forum thread on 2+2.

Other cashouts are back on, even though there are still delays for some players.

FTPDoug on 2+2:

"Many players started getting their Neteller withdrawals late last week. There have been a couple of hiccups along the way, so there is still a bit of a delay until that clears up, but things are looking good to resume normal withdrawal speeds within a week or so."

PokerStars: Apparently, PokerStars hat dealt with the increased number of cashout requests following "Black Friday" and we have no reports about further cashout issues.

PokerStars cashouts possible for US players

Another open question was when and if players from the US could cash out the funds. PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the US Department of Justice addressed these worries by publishing a statement that announced the return of the internet domains and that a cashout for US players would soon be possible.

The poker rooms also emphasized once again that they are still accepting players from outside of the US. All information regarding their statement can be found here.

PokerStars was first to act after the announcement and implemented a solution for US players a few days ago that allows them to cash out via cheque or bank transfer (details here).

According to lawdonk.com, Full Tilt Poker is very likely to follow suit this week and will also start cashing out US players. In the meantime, FTPDoug issued a statement on 2+2 regarding the cashout of tournament tickets and a handful of further details. The full statement can be found here.


Traffic declining since "Black Friday"

PokerNewsDaily reported, referencing data from PokerScout, that traffic for cashgames has declined worldwide by roughly 22%.

PokerStars: -28%
Full Tilt Poker: -35%
Absolute Poker & UltimateBet (Cereus Network): -65%
PartyPoker: 3%
888poker: 4%

(Source PokerNewsDaily, as of 27.04.2011)

Check back with us for more information as we are monitoring the traffic and will keep you up to date of any significant changes.


Chances for poker market regulation in the US

With US players being excluded from all major poker rooms, another important issue is poker regulation on the US market and when Americans will be able to play online poker again without legal worries. Judging by what bloggers such as Karak of Lawdonk.com recently posted, the chances are rather mixed.

On the one hand, the US are facing a steep budget deficit and online poker could be a new revenue source for the US government, but on the other hand many US politicians disapprove online poker for reasons of morality. This attitude is especially common among Republicans who currently hold the Congress majority.

You can read the full analysis by Karak here.

What's to come?

The next step will most likely be the trial against the indicted poker rooms and their owners. Experts estimate that the defendants and the Department of Justice will probably make a deal to avoid a judgement. A timeline for this is not known yet.

Another part of this trial will be the role of the indicted payment processors. Ira Rubin, one of these processors, was captured in Guatemala on Friday and was transferred to a detention facility in Miami.

Out on bail are the payment processors Bradley Franzen and Chad Elie who both have pleaded "not guilty" already. Chad Elie used his freedom to marry his girlfriend, the former Playboy Playmate Destiny Davis, one day after his bail was posted.


Our past news regarding Black Friday: