GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 16 - May 2011

I nmid-April, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 11 people, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, UIGEA violations and illegal gambling offenses. The DOJ also seized five domains and called on the poker rooms to pay $3 billion in damages. PokerStars and Full Tilt – the world’s biggest online poker rooms – immediately withdrew from the U.S. market. As of press time, Americans could still play real-money games on Absolute and UB.com, but couldn’t withdraw or deposit money. Full Tilt and PokerStars had regained their domains in exchange for blocking American play and promising to refund the money of American players. And the poker rooms remained open to the rest of the world. PokerStars and Full Tilt’s exit from the American market dramatically changed the online poker landscape. For American poker players, this was their nightmare scenario. But for other parts of the online gaming industry, whether these changes are good or not is a matter of perspective. In this special online poker report, the GPWA revisits the day online poker changed, examines the very real impact the indictments have had, provides reaction from a prominent American iGaming attorney and looks to the future — for players and for affiliates. TheU.S. goes towar on onlinepoker SPECIAL REPORT