Home / Poker News April 2011 / PokerStars/Full Tilt/AP on the ropes – updates
PokerStars/Full Tilt/AP on the ropes – updates
Posted by: Jo Martin - Mon, 2011-04-18 06:14
The player balances of those who played at PokerStars and Full Tilt poker are safe. In the wake of Black Friday, many players – even those outside the US – were worried about their online balances. What we can tell you now is that those outside the US can pretty much play, deposit and withdraw the same way they always did. The sites have been moved to different URLs, their original domain names seized by the US authorities.
Full Tilt Poker has set up camp at fulltiltpoker.co.uk and PokerStars moved to pokerstars.eu.
As far as the online balances of US players are concerned: we can’t really tell you anything definitive about that. The pop-up announcements on the sites meant to re-assure players seemed aimed only at players outside the US.
Player numbers were down sharply at both sites and the ordeal has prompted Full Tilt Poker to cancel its much-hyped Onyx Cup series.
Online payment processor Moneybookers have released a statement in which they distanced themselves from the current online poker scandal, saying that the company had never processed online gambling and poker transfers to and from US citizens and therefore it wasn’t in any way involved in the scandal, which would thusly not perturb its services in any way.
In other news: former US attorney Greg Brower has called for a probe into
PokerStars’ political activities on state level (Nevada) and federal level as well, after evidence had been produced regarding PokerStars-sponsored foreign trips taken by Nevada legislators as well as campaign contributions supposedly made by the online poker operation.
According to Brower, it was imperative for the state of Nevada to keep the reputation of its world-famous gambling facilities and regulatory system untarnished by somehow distancing itself from “criminal” organizations like PokerStars.
Brick and mortar gambling establishments like the Wynn and Fertitta’s have already pulled the plug on their respective PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker partnerships.
