Feds, Online Poker Firms Reach Agreement

Two of the online poker companies whose owners have been indicted on charges of illegal gambling have reached agreements with the US Department of Justice that will allow them to return money to players blocked by the brewing scandal.

Under the agreement, which was announced by an attorney for the Southern District of New York, the department will return to PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker the dot-com domain names which it seized from them last Friday.

The move will allow the companies to "facilitate the withdrawal of US players' funds held in accounts with the companies," the statement said, adding that a third site in hot water over the indictments, Canada-based Absolute Poker could also strike a deal if it so wished.

However, while American-based players will be permitted to withdraw funds from their poker accounts, they will still be prohibited from playing real-money poker on those sites.

The founders of the three poker rooms are among 11 people in total who stand accused of accused of alleged bank fraud, illegal gambling offences and money laundering, in contravention of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

All three are based abroad and according to US prosecutors are the three leading online poker sites doing business with American customers.