Cashouts After Black Friday - The Current Situation
It's been nearly six weeks since "Black Friday" struck the poker world. While most players have returned back to normal, some are still waiting for their cashouts. Here's an overview of the current status.
PokerStars
PokerStars was among the first three poker rooms indicted by the US Department of Justice. Following Black Friday, many players tried to cash out their funds and were faced with delays. A few weeks have passed now, and cashouts have resumed their normal pre-"Black Friday" speed. According to our sources, there are no reports about delays at this time.
Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker was another poker room immediately affected by the "Black Friday" indictments and also had to cope with numerous cashout requests. Before Black Friday, Full Tilt Poker was the platform of choice for many US players. PokerStars had a smaller percentage of American customers, which is why Full Tilt Poker was affected more severely than its competitor in all areas.
Meanwhile, Full Tilt Poker has effectively reduced cashout times, even though delays are still possible in isolated cases. Among them are a few players who say they have been waiting for their money for more than four weeks now.
According to posts from our members in the PokerStrategy.com forum, the situation currently looks as follows:
| Full Tilt Poker - Cashouts | |
| Cashout option | Status |
| NETELLER | Fully operational with minor delays |
| VISA Card | Fully operational with minor delays |
| Click2Pay | Fully operational with minor delays |
| Local Bank Transfer | Partially operational, major delays possible |
| Moneybookers | Currently only available in UK, Canada, Australia |
The situation regarding Moneybookers is still unclear. Full Tilt Poker has re-enabled Moneybookers cashouts for the UK and other countries, and no problems have been reported. In other countries, Germany for example, this cashout option is still not available. We will keep you updated on the latest developments.
Absolute Poker / UltimateBet
After Black Friday, the two poker rooms from the Cereus network closed their doors on US players slightly later than other platforms. In the end, though, they have been the ones most affected by the exclusion of US players.
Even though many players have been extremely worried about their bankrolls at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, cashouts are being processed on a regular basis now. However, both poker rooms have strict limitations in place regarding these payments.
Players may only request one payout of $500 per week ($1,000 if processed via VISA). Despite delays, the transactions have been carried out successfully.
The situation in the USA
In the USA, cashouts for players at PokerStars continue and several sources state that more than $100 million US players have received their money so far.
There are no news about Full Tilt Poker at this time, although Full Tilt Poker spokesman FTPDoug keeps stressing that it is FTP's highest priority to ensure that every player is able to retrieve their money.
There don't seem to be any developments concerning cashouts by American UB and AP customers and the situation is still up in the air.
Full Tilt Poker account unfrozen by Department of Justice
Latest reports about a Full Tilt Poker account in Ireland being unfrozen could be good news for FTP players. According to EGR Magazine, the account at the Bank of Ireland contains around $100 million, which have not been available for payouts so far. The Department of Justice has now unfrozen this account.
However, an anonymous Full Tilt source makes clear that this development does not mean that US players should expect immediate payments: "All of those issues together contribute to creating an impediment to paying players back, an impediment which wouldn't be there if each of those things didn't exist".
