Merge Stops US Poker Signups : June 2011 US News
Latest news for US poker sites found on our main page.
June 28, 2011
I read something over at twoplustwo about Quicktender/Usemywallet that really was infuriating. A couple posters were contacting a guy by the name of Jim Eastman (239-745-5919) who is a US Secret Service Agent. He actually had the balls to presumably tell poker players that we were lucky the government didn’t take our house and cars as well. Speechless, considering players have done NOTHING wrong. It took awhile of searching but someone needs to remind this guy that playing online poker IS NOT A CRIME. Some may recall watching Catherine Hannaway reluctantly, and trying to avoid having to say this in the 2007 Judicial Hearing about internet gambling. Fast forward to about 2:05 in this video. It may be legal for the US government to shutdown Quicktender, but it would seem logically illegal for the US to seize funds and not return them for which the person gambling has done nothing wrong, ie: the return of Neteller funds but the prosecution of the company. This matter is no different.
It will be ironic to see if online poker becomes legal on a federal level by the passage of the Barton Bill before funds are released from this so called “criminal activity”. Anyone in the current situation knows how frustrating it has become with the different scenarios of having money in usemywallet and funds seized by the US that were in transit. I would like to see the PPA get more involved in this case as it will likely involve multiple lawsuits against Quicktender aka Usemywallet aka Ecocard. It would also be great to see some action in the Full Tilt Poker money seizure. These cases seem very simple to me. The money was confiscated was not the gaming or ewallets money, it was the players and therefore should be returned to the US citizens. Whatever beef the US government has with Full Tilt or Quicktender should be resolved in a separate case. Online poker was built on trust, and now that the trust between poker sites and players has collapsed in the US, essentially poker can not thrive. Perfect timing for our savior, and Big Protector, the US government to “protect” us from the evil offshore companies and open up their own sites….
June 23, 2011
Quicktender has just released another email regarding funds on their site. Money will be allowed to be withdrawn from the 1st of July to the 15th of August. The catch, it must be a Euro denominated bank. I know personally my bank accepts Euros, they just charge a currency exchange fee, if this is sufficient I do not know. It is best to contact your bank first. What a hassle it would be to open an offshore bank account!
June 21, 2011
Quicktender/Usemywallet has issued a statement about funds. Any funds that were in transit to a US bank have been seized by the US government. Quicktender will not payout any funds lost that were in transit claiming they don’t have enough money to do so. To check about the seized money we have to go to forfeiture.gov and search “Chargestream”. Apparently they will be making an announcement as to how funds still within quicktender will be withdrawn shortly.
June 11, 2011
Nevada’s governor has signed off on a bill to allow online gambling to be licensed in the US by the Nevada Gaming Commission. Federal legislation must be passed first before they can issue licenses it appears…
June 7, 2011
Absolute Poker has come to an agreement with the USA Department of Justice to allow players to withdraw funds from their account. No time frame was given on when the funds will be available for withdraw on the document.
June 5, 2011
The Merge Network, with the likes or Carbon, Lock, Pokerhost etc, have made the decision to closed to new US players for 3-4 weeks in order to get caught up on player deposits/withdraws/ and other requests. It’s beyond slim pickings out there now with only Cake Poker being a decent place to play. If you are on a Mac, a place called Luvinpoker is the last site open.
