Online Poker Stars Struggle Post Black Friday

A new, disturbing phenomenon has emerged following the Black Friday shutdown of online poker sites in the United States - players who formally made a living off the sport are now struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families.

Silent Victims

Honest, run-of-the-mill poker players like Brian Mogelefsky are now suffering the effect of the crackdown by authorities, as Fox News has reported.

Mogelefsky, the report said, left New York for Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and two children after his mortgage company went bust in the real estate crisis, and took up a career as a full-time online poker player. The new career looked set to earn him up to $90,000 this year - a good enough wage to support his family, but that run looks to be over.

For this innocent victim, Black Friday came "at the worst possible time," he said, telling Fox that he was only just beginning to reap the rewards of years of intense study of the game.

Primary Income

Like many, Mogelefsky has not only been blocked from pursuing his passion and earning a living at the same time, but he has also been denied access to funds that are rightfully his.

According to Poker Players Alliance head John Pappas, he is in the same boat as around 50,000 full-time online players who use poker as their primary income source, after the government indicted owners of three major US poker room operators in April and took control of their domains.