Which Online Sites are Still Taking US Action?
- Thread starter mr. f
- Start date
Here is a list of some better-known sites that are staying in US Market, at least for now:
Pokerstars
Ultimate Bet
Absolute Poker
Full Tilt
Bodog
True Poker
Doyle's Room
Poker.com
WSEX
Pokerstars
Ultimate Bet
Absolute Poker
Full Tilt
Bodog
True Poker
Doyle's Room
Poker.com
WSEX
Last edited:
I've always played on pokerstars and have liked the software a lot. Great for multitable tournaments, IMO. In the past the site has had a reputation for having a little better quality opponents, but the games are apparently a lot softer nowadays with the influx of US Partypoker refugees.
I've also played on Absolute... took advantage of their huge bonuses, and did well for awhile... but I haven't been able to crack those games... even with the huge bonuses, I was still always a losing player there.... rock-tight multitablers that I hadn't figured out how to exploit. A lot less game selection there too, but Absolute has been pretty vocal about remaining in the US, so I'm sure they're getting a lot more traffic these days. Software is fine. Something I never did that I wished I had... GET RAKEBACK... or at least let a "FRIEND" sign you up and get the bonus. It's free money, and I'm kicking myself that I never did that when I signed up. When (if!) I clear my pokerstars bonus, I'll probably transfer some funds over there and see if things have changed regarding game quality and selection. (either that or I'll sign up at Full Tilt).
The only other one of the group that I've played is Ultimate Bet -- and their bonuses are so slow to clear that I never really liked their site.... I dicked around on there for awhile, learning Omaha Hi-Lo and No Limit Holdem but quite frankly the 3-D table view and the "Representing the United States of America" monikers are kind of annoying.
Haven't tried any of the others... pokerstars'll serve me fine for now... especially since I'm back on a SitNGo kick... I like stars's 9-handed SNGs.
I've also played on Absolute... took advantage of their huge bonuses, and did well for awhile... but I haven't been able to crack those games... even with the huge bonuses, I was still always a losing player there.... rock-tight multitablers that I hadn't figured out how to exploit. A lot less game selection there too, but Absolute has been pretty vocal about remaining in the US, so I'm sure they're getting a lot more traffic these days. Software is fine. Something I never did that I wished I had... GET RAKEBACK... or at least let a "FRIEND" sign you up and get the bonus. It's free money, and I'm kicking myself that I never did that when I signed up. When (if!) I clear my pokerstars bonus, I'll probably transfer some funds over there and see if things have changed regarding game quality and selection. (either that or I'll sign up at Full Tilt).
The only other one of the group that I've played is Ultimate Bet -- and their bonuses are so slow to clear that I never really liked their site.... I dicked around on there for awhile, learning Omaha Hi-Lo and No Limit Holdem but quite frankly the 3-D table view and the "Representing the United States of America" monikers are kind of annoying.
Haven't tried any of the others... pokerstars'll serve me fine for now... especially since I'm back on a SitNGo kick... I like stars's 9-handed SNGs.
Thanks for the insite. I have been playing on Full tilt with some success. At first I was getting hit with nasty bad beats but it has settled down now. One complaint is that the sit an go format seems much slower than Party did. You get down to four or five pretty quickly but then it is like pulling teeth to eliminate someone. Overall though I am happy to be back online, and happy enough with Full Tilt.
Gov't keeping up the pressure on online gambling firms:
Arrests in US rekindle fears for future of online gambling
By James Wilson in Manchester, Gordon Smith and Lucy,Warwick-Ching in London and Daniel Pimlott in New York
Published: January 17 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 17 2007 02:00
US authorities yesterday charged two founders of UK-listed Neteller, one of the leading payment processors for online gamblers, with laundering billions of dollars of gambling proceeds, intensifying concern about the US stance on internet gaming.
Stephen Lawrence, a former chief executive and chairman, was detained on Monday in the US Virgin Islands and was due to appear in court today.
John Lefebvre was held in California and was set to appear in court in Los Angeles yesterday.
The US attorney's office in the southern district of New York said the men, who are Canadian, had been charged with conspiring to transfer funds with the intent to promote illegal gambling. If convicted they could face 20 years in prison.
The two men set up Neteller in 1999 and remain its biggest individual shareholders. But the money transfer company said neither had any current involvement other than as investors.
Mr Lawrence, 46, stepped down from the board last October. Mr Lefebvre, 55, left the board in December 2005.
Michael Garcia, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, said the arrested men "knew when they took their company public that its activities, as well as those of the internet gambling companies it assisted, were illegal in the US".
Neteller, which has its headquarters in the Isle of Man and is listed on Aim in London, had "not received any communication or correspondence from any US authority regarding this or any related matter". Trading in Neteller shares was suspended after the arrests.
Simon Holliday, partner at Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, said: "It could mean anyone . . . ever . . . involved in the online gambling industry faces the possibility of arrest if they travel to the US."
These are the latest in a series of arrests of online gaming executives. David Carruthers, former chief executive of BetonSports and a prominent advocate of regulated online gambling, was arrested in Texas last July. He is, in effect, under house arrest.
Peter Dicks, former chairman of Sportingbet, was arrested in New York but was released and allowed to return to London.
On Monday, shares in Neteller closed down 7 per cent at 163¾p.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c02e353c-a5d1-11db-a4e0-0000779e2340.html
Arrests in US rekindle fears for future of online gambling
By James Wilson in Manchester, Gordon Smith and Lucy,Warwick-Ching in London and Daniel Pimlott in New York
Published: January 17 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 17 2007 02:00
US authorities yesterday charged two founders of UK-listed Neteller, one of the leading payment processors for online gamblers, with laundering billions of dollars of gambling proceeds, intensifying concern about the US stance on internet gaming.
Stephen Lawrence, a former chief executive and chairman, was detained on Monday in the US Virgin Islands and was due to appear in court today.
John Lefebvre was held in California and was set to appear in court in Los Angeles yesterday.
The US attorney's office in the southern district of New York said the men, who are Canadian, had been charged with conspiring to transfer funds with the intent to promote illegal gambling. If convicted they could face 20 years in prison.
The two men set up Neteller in 1999 and remain its biggest individual shareholders. But the money transfer company said neither had any current involvement other than as investors.
Mr Lawrence, 46, stepped down from the board last October. Mr Lefebvre, 55, left the board in December 2005.
Michael Garcia, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, said the arrested men "knew when they took their company public that its activities, as well as those of the internet gambling companies it assisted, were illegal in the US".
Neteller, which has its headquarters in the Isle of Man and is listed on Aim in London, had "not received any communication or correspondence from any US authority regarding this or any related matter". Trading in Neteller shares was suspended after the arrests.
Simon Holliday, partner at Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, said: "It could mean anyone . . . ever . . . involved in the online gambling industry faces the possibility of arrest if they travel to the US."
These are the latest in a series of arrests of online gaming executives. David Carruthers, former chief executive of BetonSports and a prominent advocate of regulated online gambling, was arrested in Texas last July. He is, in effect, under house arrest.
Peter Dicks, former chairman of Sportingbet, was arrested in New York but was released and allowed to return to London.
On Monday, shares in Neteller closed down 7 per cent at 163¾p.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c02e353c-a5d1-11db-a4e0-0000779e2340.html
Wow, that's huge.
Here's something else from Full Tilt. No more paper checks to U.S. based customers....
"
Unfortunately, due to a recent change in our check processor's policies,
we are temporarily unable to issue checks to US residents. We are
working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. In the meantime,
rest assured that this does not affect the money in your Full Tilt Poker
account in any way. Your money is safe, secure and ready for use on our
tables or for withdrawal at any time. Full Tilt Poker is fully committed
to continue offering its services to all of our players worldwide.
US customers requesting to withdraw their funds will need to create an
account with one of our secure payment processors, your funds will
remain in your Full Tilt Poker account for use on our site while you
establish a new payment processor. Click2Pay and ePassporte are simple
to set-up using our convenient guides located at:
http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/payClick2Pay.php
http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/payEpassporte.php
If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to *****
support@fulltiltpoker.com at any time.
Regards,
Ian
Full Tilt Poker Support "
Here's something else from Full Tilt. No more paper checks to U.S. based customers....
"
Unfortunately, due to a recent change in our check processor's policies,
we are temporarily unable to issue checks to US residents. We are
working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. In the meantime,
rest assured that this does not affect the money in your Full Tilt Poker
account in any way. Your money is safe, secure and ready for use on our
tables or for withdrawal at any time. Full Tilt Poker is fully committed
to continue offering its services to all of our players worldwide.
US customers requesting to withdraw their funds will need to create an
account with one of our secure payment processors, your funds will
remain in your Full Tilt Poker account for use on our site while you
establish a new payment processor. Click2Pay and ePassporte are simple
to set-up using our convenient guides located at:
http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/payClick2Pay.php
http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/payEpassporte.php
If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to *****
support@fulltiltpoker.com at any time.
Regards,
Ian
Full Tilt Poker Support "
Just before all of this started to come down I finished 2nd in a big tourney on fulltilt for $6,600. I was able to pull $6000 out of Full tilt to my neteller account but have had no luck in getting it from neteller to my bank account. If anyone else is going through this now let me know how it is going.
Neteller is/was a money transfer/processing company for gambling, which was what that service was about. What I am asking about is a foreign bank account, which supposed to be reported for tax purposes but many times aren't, to be used as in intermediary for placing bets. US couldn't prevent a Neteller from distributing monies to a bank account outside the jurisdiction of US law. My question, which you "misunderstood", is in reference to this scenario. Can it be done and how difficult/easy would it be? I can set up foreign bank accounts for business as well as trading accounts in other jusrisdictions, but can the individual do such a thing with such a bank?
And exactly how is it different? As soon as the bank transeferred the money you won playing online poker to you, where are they any different than Neteller; and what you may not know is Neteller wasn't started to do gambling transactions, and does a lot more than gambling transactions. In fact, they look an awful lot like a bank, and they aren't US based, and the transactions take place in England, not the US, and, and and....... I think it's you who wants to misunderstand so badly that you're trying to pull a "Billy Joel". Face it - with billions of dollars of transactions at stake, don't you think non-US banks would be pushing it like mad if they thought they could get away with it? Do you think it would take individuals from the US to "figure out" that they could simply and easily set up offshore accounts and everything would be fine? Face it, that's EXACTLY what Neteller did/assumed, and we can see what's going on with it. Which country do you think wants to take on the US over a banking issue when the US Gov't OBVIOUSLY has this HUGE hardon for this activity right now?
And don't you think lobbyists from all the legal US gambling operations are pushing like mad to get every possible "leak" bettened down? It's the same battle which was fought and lost (so far, anyway) over the gaming sites in the first place. How many "legal experts" posted legal opinions on alledgedly "independent" sites that internet gaming was absolutely legal in the US, and look what's happened. (Those from NY may know Elliot Spitzer was very much in the forefront of making internet gambling illegal, and he's just been elected Governor of NY).
This reminds me of a string of arguments I had with a group of boneheads over on a Yahoo group which had nothing to do with gambling, as well as later arguments with guys who went to, and some who owned/operated poker clubs in NYC. The argument started when someone said that if there's a raid of an underground stripclub or a brothel, that the johns can't be arrested unless they are caught in the act. I called BS, saying that it's not true in that there are laws against being in establishments where various forms of illegal activities were going on, and I gave the example of illegal card houses/casinos in NYC. I got jumped on by guys saying you couldn't get arrested for that, that gambling wasn't illegal for the patrons, only the owners, that poker rooms are perfectly legal as long as they only charge for playing time, etc., etc, etc. I cited the actual law as well as the cases Spitzer was in the middle of, and they sited these BS websites where some law professor who was in the pocket of the gaming industry was talking about how various forms of gambvling were not illegal, blah, blah, blah. I got not one single direct answer re: Sptizer or the sections of the law which I sited.
Well, I think we all now know what happened/who was right.
PS Do you know how big an operatiopn Neteller is? If they could make it all go away by simply filing paperwork to be a "Bank" rather than an e-commerce company (and, BTW, I don't know that they aren't a Bank... i have a sneeking suspicion that they they couldn't get away with what they were doing without being one, but I don't know all that much about the intricacies of Banking Law in England).
And don't you think lobbyists from all the legal US gambling operations are pushing like mad to get every possible "leak" bettened down? It's the same battle which was fought and lost (so far, anyway) over the gaming sites in the first place. How many "legal experts" posted legal opinions on alledgedly "independent" sites that internet gaming was absolutely legal in the US, and look what's happened. (Those from NY may know Elliot Spitzer was very much in the forefront of making internet gambling illegal, and he's just been elected Governor of NY).
This reminds me of a string of arguments I had with a group of boneheads over on a Yahoo group which had nothing to do with gambling, as well as later arguments with guys who went to, and some who owned/operated poker clubs in NYC. The argument started when someone said that if there's a raid of an underground stripclub or a brothel, that the johns can't be arrested unless they are caught in the act. I called BS, saying that it's not true in that there are laws against being in establishments where various forms of illegal activities were going on, and I gave the example of illegal card houses/casinos in NYC. I got jumped on by guys saying you couldn't get arrested for that, that gambling wasn't illegal for the patrons, only the owners, that poker rooms are perfectly legal as long as they only charge for playing time, etc., etc, etc. I cited the actual law as well as the cases Spitzer was in the middle of, and they sited these BS websites where some law professor who was in the pocket of the gaming industry was talking about how various forms of gambvling were not illegal, blah, blah, blah. I got not one single direct answer re: Sptizer or the sections of the law which I sited.
Well, I think we all now know what happened/who was right.
PS Do you know how big an operatiopn Neteller is? If they could make it all go away by simply filing paperwork to be a "Bank" rather than an e-commerce company (and, BTW, I don't know that they aren't a Bank... i have a sneeking suspicion that they they couldn't get away with what they were doing without being one, but I don't know all that much about the intricacies of Banking Law in England).
PS Neteller isn't even stopping doing business with US customers; they are simply not doing gambling transactions with US customers:
"US Member Update
Effective Immediately
Due to recent US legislative changes and events, effective immediately, US members are no longer able to transfer funds to or from any online gambling sites.
All US members will continue to be able to use their NETELLER e-wallet account to safely transfer funds to and from non-gambling merchants and are not required to close their account or withdraw their funds."
"US Member Update
Effective Immediately
Due to recent US legislative changes and events, effective immediately, US members are no longer able to transfer funds to or from any online gambling sites.
All US members will continue to be able to use their NETELLER e-wallet account to safely transfer funds to and from non-gambling merchants and are not required to close their account or withdraw their funds."