US Poker Players Guide To Retrieving Funds

The Black Friday crackdown by US prosecutors against the founders of three major online poker rooms has scared the online gambling community, but as we explain below players are being told they can still extract their funds from their accounts.

PokerStars, Full Tilt Back Online

PokerStars, the world's largest online poker company, said on Wednesday that it has started the process of repaying millions of dollars in funds deposited by American players, after it and Full Tilt struck an agreement with the US Department of Justice to return their dot-com domains.

A similar announcement is also expected from Full Tilt, which has been sending out messages to affiliates to remind them that while it is still being stopped from facilitating real money play, deposits or withdrawals from US-based players, it can promise that all player accounts remain safe and secure, and that its technical and legal teams "are working diligently to resolve any outstanding bottlenecks."

It is still unknown if a third site indicted by federal prosecutors, Canadian-based Absolute Poker, has managed to come to a similar agreement with the DoJ.

US Prosecutors "Misleading" Public

Despite the reassurances from the online poker companies, we feel it is worth mentioning that there has been some criticism over "misleading" statement by Preet Bharara, the US Attorney who seized the domain names and said that poker companies have been free at times to reimburse deposit funds.

Professor I. Nelson Rose, a leading expert in gambling law, wrote that not only was it unclear how players were supposed to get their money back, but that even the DoJ - which has entered a gray area - "has not worked out all the details on what it will allow."

Meanwhile the APCW's J. Todd said players "should not be too worried about the feds coming after them over gambling if they cash out."

He added, "However I would make damn sure that I report all my winnings on my tax return."

Confused?

Admittedly this is all a little confusing, but we tend to agree that while the future of online poker in the US is uncertain and in trouble, players just need a little more patience and hopefully in the near future you will be able to withdraw all your funds.

For non-Americans, we suggest playing for the time being at online poker rooms unaffected by the US crackdown, such as bet365 poker and others.