'Internet Poker Sites Seized For Fraud'

Al Vallario · 16 Apr 2011 at 00:55

If you've attempted to visit the websites of Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker or Poker Stars in the past few hours you might have had a bit of a shock...

Internet Poker Sites Seized For Fraud

The government claims the defendants schemed to conceal gambling revenue through deceit and bribery.

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday announced the indictment of 11 individuals involved with online poker websites on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling.

The defendants include the founders of the three largest Internet poker companies that do business in the US: Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker, and PokerStars. The government seized five Internet domain names associated with these companies.

[...]

— http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/policy/229401726

Is it just me or is there something absolutely disgraceful, if not mildly terrifying, about the seizure of domain names like this? :eek:

[TW]Sponge · 16 Apr 2011 at 00:57

That's why I don't play online

Danthus · 16 Apr 2011 at 00:58

I can access Poker Stars and Full Tilt.

Al Vallario · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:02

OldCoals said:
I can access Poker Stars and Full Tilt.

The DNS changes are still propagating, so you will lose access shortly when they are updated for you...

This is (a resized copy of) the image visitors are now being presented with:

Greenlizard0 · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:03

Somebody high up really wants their gambling debts hidden.

Danthus · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:03

If they were breaking the law what is the problem?

Swi1ch · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:10

Not 100% right this second, but this is almost certainly NOT related to them stealing money/rigging the games etc, but most likely in relation to the UIGEA act (It's technically been illegal to deposit money on internet gaming sites for Americans for a while now)

Ivan Drago · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:11

Just logged into Pokerstars and it's still full of players. Wondering whether I need to cash all my money out to be on the safe side?

Overslop · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:13

OldCoals said:
If they were breaking the law what is the problem?

Losing any money you had in accounts at these websites.

Macky · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:15

Ivan Drago said:
Just logged into Pokerstars and it's still full of players. Wondering whether I need to cash all my money out to be on the safe side?

Might as well. Nothing to lose compared to not doing it?

Al Vallario · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:17

Overslop said:
Losing any money you had in accounts at these websites.

To clarify, the sites themselves have not been taken down, only the .com domain names have been seized by the FBI.

The sites are not hosted in the United States for obvious reasons.

OldCoals said:
If they were breaking the law what is the problem?

The individuals and businesses concerned have not been convicted of committing any crime at this point in time.

In any case the businesses are based in British crown dependencies (Alderney in the case of FullTiltPoker, the Isle of Man in the case of PokerStars) and are not subject to U.S. law.

Strife212 · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:17

Swi1ch said:
Not 100% right this second, but this is almost certainly NOT related to them stealing money/rigging the games etc, but most likely in relation to the UIGEA act (It's technically been illegal to deposit money on internet gaming sites for Americans for a while now)

Indeed

Fenris · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:24

Al Vallario said:
Is it just me or is there something absolutely disgraceful, if not mildly terrifying, about the seizure of domain names like this?

I don't see why it would be, it's just the digital equivalent of a business being shut down for illegal practices.

Also it's just a domain name, it's not the entire site.

Redrum · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:29

Al Vallario said:
Is it just me or is there something absolutely disgraceful, if not mildly terrifying, about the seizure of domain names like this?

No, I agree that it's disgraceful. It's hard to see how they can be breaking American laws when they are not based in America. More to the point, even if they are, this should be proved in a court of law before domain names can just be seized like this.

Craig321 · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:34

Aww gutted, Poker Stars was awesome for the tournament!

Overslop · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:40

Al Vallario said:
To clarify, the sites themselves have not been taken down, only the .com domain names have been seized by the FBI.

Hopefully it doesn't go as far as I feared it may. I play a bit of online poker myself (not at those websites) so can sympathise with the fears of anyone who has cash in their accounts on those ones. :eek:

Swi1ch · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:43

Anyone else find it interesting that this happens a mere eight days post this: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261778&highlight=government

(content of thread)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13003059

"US President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have met at the White House in a bid to negotiate a budget as a government shutdown looms."

"The most recent of those is set to expire at midnight on Friday, forcing all government services deemed non-essential to shut down and keeping hundreds of thousands of government workers at home."

Energize · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:46

What's pokerstars ip address?

Al Vallario · 16 Apr 2011 at 01:53

Energize said:
What's pokerstars ip address?

PokerStars is still accessible at www.pokerstars.net, only the .com has been seized

Nix · 16 Apr 2011 at 02:03

Right, just so I've understood this correctly: these sites have been seized because it's illegal to bet in America? Or have I missed something?