Submitted on Tue, 2010-02-16 00:00

The entire US online poker industry is now at risk, as are the accounts of the 2.5 million Americans who play and bet $30 billion annually. A 2006 law, set to go into full effect in June, has expanded the Justice Department's power to shut down gaming operations by going after the companies that process their financial transactions.

 

Last summer, federal prosecutors in New York froze $34 million owed to at least 14,000 players from companies that processed payments for poker games hosted by Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars.

 

According to the Poker Players Alliance, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York instructed three banks - Citibank, Goldwater Bank and Alliance Bank of Arizona - to freeze the accounts. In the letter to Alliance Bank, the prosecutor said accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. were subject to seizure and forfeiture "because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses."

 

The Wire Act is another, older law that the Justice Department is using to go after online poker operators. Indian-born founder of Party Gaming, Anurag Dikshit, pleaded guilty to violating this act in December 2008 for helping direct Party Gaming's online US poker operations. Dikshit has agreed to pay $300 million in fines, but he still faces up to two years in jail when he is sentenced in December 2010.

 

Of course we at OPR will keep our eyes on this important story and report any vital news as it occurs.