The Collapse of Online Poker

www.onlinepoker.org THE COLLAPSE OF ONLINE KOKER IN THE UNITED STATES the Players On April 15th federal authorities indicted 11 people in connection with an ongoing investigation into online websites and those who helped with pro- cessing payments to and from American players. FULL Poker Stars Tilt VPOKER.COM PAYMENT Sunfirst ABSOLUTE POKER PROCESSORS EBANK Ryan Lang Ira Rubin Bradley Franzen Chad Elie John Campos Isai Scheinberg Paul Tate Raymond Bitar Nelson Burtnick John Campos Scott Tom Brent Beckley the Charges COUNT MAX BET NUMBER OF MAXIMUM PENALTY CHARGES FOR EACH OFFENSE 5 YEARS IN PRISON Conspiracy to violate Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act PLUS fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss; three years of supervised release 5 YEARS Violation of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act IN PRISON PLUS fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss; three years of supervised release 5 YEARS IN PRISON Operation of Illegal Gambling Business PLUS fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss; three years of supervised release; forfeiture of proceeds of offense $100,000 FINE or twice the gross gain or loss. PLUS Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud five years of supervised release; forfeiture of proceeds of offense 20 YEARS IN PRISON PLUS Money Laundering Conspiracy fine of $500,000 or twice the amount laundered; three years of supervised reléase; forfeiture of proceeds of offense the. Stakes U.S. GOVERNMENT SEEKING $3 BILLION FORFEITURE HAS FROZEN FUNDS FROM 76 BANK ACCOUNTS IN 14 COUNTRIES DOMAIN NAMES FOR POKERSTARS, ABSOLUTE POKER, FULLTILT POKER, AND ULTIMATE BET SEIZED BY THE FBI The domains have since been restored by the FBI under the condition that no U.S. players may gamble on these sites. How They Did It WI EITHER WENT TO A shady bank which was bribed by the poker site. PLAYERS DEPOSITED FUNDS then illegally processed the funds to the poker companies own account. Or fake retailers working for the poker sites pre- tending to sell goods. The players account on the poker site would then credited, and able to gamble. Bribed Bank: Who would then write PLAYER RECEIVED FUNDS off a check to the player and mail it to them when the player wished to withdraw funds, the poker site transferred funds to banks they were bribing Immediate Effects US PLAYERS BANNED FROM POKER SITES WITH EACH PLAYER ESTIMATED TO BE THIS AMOUNTS TO HUNDREDS WORTH $1000 TO POKER SITES OF MILLIONS IN LOST REVENUE $1000 WHICH AMOUNTS TO NEARLY HALF OF ALL ONLINE PROFITS GLOBALLY FORCING SITES TO CUT TOURNAMENT PRIZE POOLS BY AS MUCH AS 50% POKERSTARS 500M EST. PER YEAR 3 MILL US PLAYERS 1.5 MILL LOST MILL MILL 200 GRAND 75 GRAND PLAYERS ARE NOW UNABLE TO CASH OUT THEIR WINNINGS ESPN SEVERED ALL TIES WITH POKERSTARS. WYNN RESORT TERMINATED ALL POKERSTARS DEALINGS , Poker Stars the Future? The affected websites, big name pros, and most analysts and legal scholars all agree this will not be the end of online poker in the United States. And with any luck, legislation that has been stalled in congress for years will pass sooner than later that would legalize and tax the industry. In fact, just days prior to the indictments intrastate poker was legalized in the District of Columbia. The question now is, will the poker sites that invented the industry, and built it to the powerhouse it is/was today be around to see this happen? INFO GRAPHIC WORLD OnlinePoker.org ULTIMATE BET TOURNAMENT FULLTILT POKER STARS 1.