Updates for July 2007 Regarding US Gambling Situation
For latest news please visit the recent US online poker webpage.
Updated July 31
1:08pm – A handful of people who did bank wire transactions to withdraw their Neteller money are reporting receiving it already….less than 24 hours. That’s great news, hopefully it keeps up at that pace.
Updated July 30
12:36pm – Ecocard released an email today to its US customers saying that on August 24th, 2007 gaming transactions will no longer be allowed. Prior to this email they said they were going to wait until UIGEA regulations were issued before they blocked gaming transactions for US customers. The deposit list has been updated.
12:22pm – Neteller released the announcement 2 hours ago that US customers can now withdraw their funds. I’m so happy I could cry. 
Updated July 29
12:41pm – Those Visa Gift cards people were using to deposit money into gaming sites are now blocked according to various forum posters across multiple sites. I’m suprised those lasted as long as they did.
12:16pm – Tomorrow is the day US customers can withdraw funds from Neteller. A total of $94 million dollars will be released. Rumors have it that it will take 5-6 days for funds to be processed. Other than that no major news regarding the US situation. Hopefully it’s not the calm before the storm.
Updated July 27
1:46pm – J. Todd released a new APCW video this week. It is posted in the US video section above. There is an interview with Neteller’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Dan Starr. He said the date for US funds to be released will definately be the 30th, no sooner. It’s a good interview and talks about what caused the delays and such. Great work J. Todd!
Updated July 25
1:07pm – Neteller issued a press release stating they will resume trading on the AIM today…..they are down 64% already. Neteller usually likes to issue press releases in batches so hopefully they send one out today saying US customers can withdraw their money. They have 5 days left to do so.
12:23am – Senator John Kyl again urges Attorney General Gonzalez to speak about the UIGEA in todays (well yesterday now) hearing about the US attorney firings. Because there are major issues when I try to link the Real Player video I went ahead and transcribed the debate below. If you want to listen to it….go to c-span.org and search for 7/24/07 videos labeled “Senate Judiciary Cmte. Hearing with Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales” and skip forward to 1:14:00. Here is what was said. It’s pretty much the same thing he said last time.
“Roger,
The executive branch of the U.S. Government, which is the defendant in iMEGA v. Gonzales, et al., has not yet filed an Answer to the Complaint which was, in fact, served upon them in June. The judicial branch of the Government–the U.S. District Court, in other words–will not set a date for an initial hearing until the defendant has either filed an Answer or time has run out for it to do so (generally, 20 days after service of process, which can and often is extended).
It is important to note that under the American system, even though both the courts and the executive are both “branches” of the “government,” they do operate separately and independently. Thus, the court must and will be fair, objective, and equitable without regard to the fact one of the parties is, in fact, a co-equal branch of the government.
We’ll be sure to keep everyone in the loop as things move forward.
Thank you again for your interest and support.
All the best,
Ed”
4:42am – I hope everyone had a GOOD Fourth of July. No updates yesterday. Alamo Poker has closed down, what looks like permanently. Their website is now unoperational. They were one of the sites that were supposed to merge over to the Digital Gaming Network.
Updated July 3
1:56pm – Various news sites are reporting that Barney Frank has added a clause to the gambling legislation. The clause would provide billions of dollars for affordable housing. Reports are saying this will dramatically decrease the probability of passing the Bill to legalize online gambling. Analysts are reporting this bill has almost no chance of passing because this latest move has angered many Republicans and Democrats alike.
Updated July 2
5:06pm – Neteller officially released a press release today confirming Lawrence’s decision to plead guilty. They also confirmed that Lawrence will have to forfeit at least $100 million dollars.
On a side note, Florida raised stakes in their poker rooms yesterday and added No Limit. The games are fish central for anyone who likes to play $100NL or $5/5 Limit games. It seemed like every other hand someone was reloading. Funny how the government on one hand bans online forms of gambling yet increases the stakes and incentives to play at land based casinos. 
Senator Kyl speaks: – 1:14:00
Senator Kyl opens up with the NBA referee scandal going on right now. He then asks for Attorney General Gonzalezs’, “Views with respect to going after the illegal gambling operations.”
Att. General Gonzalez speaks: – 1:15:15
“We do believe it’s a serious issue. It’s highly addictive, affects our youth and can be tied to money laundering and fraud…it’s time to organize crime. There are challenges due to existing laws because evidence is offshore and it is difficult to get evidence. It involves other countries and serious issues of extradition.
We appreciate the additional tools of the UIGEA which bans certain financial payments and as you know the Treasury and Federal Reserve have primary responsibility with the issuance of regulations after consulting with the US Department of Justice. We provided input and my understanding is the regulations are moving forward. You have my commitment that we will enforce these laws.”
Updated July 23
1:35pm – The Antigua Sun wrote an article today titled “Banks Clamp Down on Gaming Companies“. The article was nothing earth shattering but did sum up why when players cashout via check it seems to come from a different foreign bank everytime. Here is a quote on the reasoning and also why some gaming sites are having such a hard time paying customers.
“Because the US legislation makes US banks criminally liable for facilitating gaming companies, you can have a situation where even domestic banks, because they are concerned about the loss of corresponding accounts, are forced to close local gaming accounts,” Maginley told the SUN.
Updated July 22
12:07am – Here is an update on the analysis of real money “player volumes” at the major brands right now (new numbers are highlighted in yellow below). It will be interesting to see how things change with the World Series of Poker now being shown on TV and with UIGEA regulations looming. Don’t forget though, even if regulations are released this month there will likely be a 30-120 day commenting period so US players will likely be playing through the entire WSOP broadcasting.
Suprisingly, the numbers aren’t looking all that great. Full Tilt Poker (US accepted) is the only site that is showing a steady increase in volumes these past couple months. Poker Stars seems to be at a stand still.
Despite a strong increase in player volumes for Party Poker (non US) during the Spring months of April and May they have shown a dramatic decline this month. Everest Poker (non US) also seems to show no real signs of gain but instead a slight decline.
Google trends continues to show a downslope for the searched keyword “poker” (see Google trends “poker” results). Less people are searching for poker related keywords in mid months of 2007. WSOP related poker keywords and “player” searches have increased as expected. Please refer to the US poker site traffic report for the chart.
Updated July 20
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the UK has put a stop to gambling ads on television and radio. I find this pretty ironic. While the UK allows online gambling they don’t want ads running in the public and while the USA is banning online gambling, we have widespread TV ads on ESPN…..but of course they’re to .net sites. 
Updated July 18
2:34pm – Neteller issued a press release 1 hour ago stating US customers will be able to withdraw funds no later than the end of this month. The USAO investigations have finally been resolved. Neteller will not be charged with any criminal activities but will forfeit $136 million. Here is our shorts news piece on Neteller and US funds along with the press release links and the new US Neteller FAQ link.
Updated July 17
10:30pm – Another major site, >Fulltiltpoker.com, seems to have done something to allow more major US credit card deposits previously declined. I wonder how long this will last or exactly how they’re doing it.
2:44pm – Somehow Bodog.com seems to have done something with their credit card processing to where they can allow an abundance of credit card deposits to go through for previously declined cards. This is very interesting and I wonder how the DOJ plans to stop this since it was “supposedly” taken care of pre-UIGEA. Lots of posts are going up on forums about this as well so it seems to be pretty widespread.
10:30am – Here is a clarification on the Ecocard issue. Once UIGEA regulations pass they will block US residents from using their services. In the email it sounded like business will stay as usual until then.
Updated July 16
3:21pm – A few days ago I told you I was going to contact Ben Bernanke head of leading the UIGEA regulations for the Treasury. They’re doing nothing but sending out useless form letters right now so no new info on the UIGEA.
2:54pm – It is being rumored that EcoCard has pulled out of the US market today. The news came from Gambling911’s source, Jackpot Factory, but it does not seem EcoCard has released an official statement. Ecocard is used primarily on the Casino deposit side but was also used at Poker.com/Carbonpoker. If true, it’s a big blow to the online casino sector even though the service was very fee heavy.
4:15am – Bodog has been telling customers that Western Union will be an option again come football season. That was a direct quote from a few emails on forums. I’ve been trying to win a new iPhone at Bodog.com but have yet to succeed. 
Looks like I’ll just have to buy one. 
3:40am – I just added a new section to this page where you can track important gambling bills that are trying to get pushed through. The links next to the description in the chart will take you to a page that gives latest updates on the bills, list of co-sponsors and any major changes. Please refer to the Bills section of this page for this info.
2:33am – I posted a new J. Todd video in the US video related section. For some reason APCW’s emails aren’t getting sent out so this video was actually released a couple days ago but I just now found it in a casino affiliate forum search. It recaps last weeks UIGEA regulations not getting passed, Neteller news and more WTO issues. He also talks about quite a few Washington State issues.
Updated July 15
2:20pm – Not much happening this weekend except for the World Series of Poker getting down to 100 players. Also, we watched one of D’amatos interviews at the WSOP. He seems to be hitting on old topics and pushing out text box answers. Tomorrow should be a big day for US related news!
Updated July 13
12:34pm – Neteller announced today they will not meet the July 13th deadline to have a plan for releasing US funds. They did say, “They were making progress and should announce a resolution in a couple days.” Here is the full press release (http://www.neteller-group.com/press/en/134.htm).
Updated July 12
4:10am – Neteller will be delaying the release of US funds again. It’s starting to sound like a broken record. They just issued a press release about the second Neteller co-founder, John Lefebvre, and at the bottom they snuck in this little tidbit.
“However, the Company believes that these and other recent developments will likely delay its efforts to resolve the investigation by a short period. A further update will be given on 13 July 2007.”
12:44am – Gambling911 reports that IMEGA received a hearing date for their lawsuit against AG Gonzalez and the UIGEA. The day it will be held is September 4th. IMEGA is calling the UIGEA unconstitutional and infringes on the First and Tenth Amendment. G911 just did an interview with Joe Brennan (www.gambling911.com/Online-Gambling-UIGEA-071207.html). Its a good article and looks optomistic.
Updated July 11
7:25pm – Two important dates are on the horizon these next couple days. Two days from now Neteller will let everyone know how and when they plan on releasing US funds. 
Tomorrow, hearings are expected for Barney Frank’s bill to legalize online gambling (although it shows no listing for this to happen at (financialservices.house.gov/schedule.html) so earlier press releases were probably changed.
7:00pm – Looking into the future, I contacted the Treasury Department on some clarifications on what exactly will happen once the regulations do get published for the UIGEA. According to the attorney down at the IRS office, to whom I was directed to, there will be a comment period after the regulations are released. So once the regulations are released there will be 30, 60, 90 or however amount of days for a “comment period” before banks must put efforts into enacting this law.
We were playing phone tag but he left a pretty lengthy message but I’m going to call him back tomorrow to make sure this is correct. He also made it seem like the comment period length would be stated in the press release of the regulations for the UIGEA once they are issued this month or in August.
Updated July 10
3:35pm – Woooah lots of news today. John Lefebvre the second Neteller co-founder pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to conduct illegal gambling activities. His sentencing will occur on Nov 1 which was added to our “important dates” list.
Also IMEGA (the ones seeking an injunction against the UIGEA) have “filed a brief” in the US Circuit Court in advance of a full court challenge. From what IMEGA is telling us, this “brief” is necessary to consider a temporary restraining order against the UIGEA. Brennan, head of IMEGA, says he is confident this will expedite things so that a court date can be set so they can try and win their injunction against the UIGEA. The full press release can be read at imega.org
1:43pm – An email was just blasted off to Chairman Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Board (FRB) member and the head hancho for the overseeing of the UIGEA regulations. Usually we get a form letter back from a representative of Bernanke but maybe they’ll expand a little and give us some more updates on the UIGEA regulations.
SPECIAL UPDATE 1:19pm - Ok, so regulations will not be published today but they will probably be published this month. This is according to the email response we just got 2 minutes ago from Steve Laughton, the direct contact at the Treasury regarding the UIGEA. Here is his short email response. Notice how he says “hopefully” so again, more uncertainty but at least we know it won’t be today.
“The UIGEA regulations will not be published today but will hopefully be published sometime this month.
Steve”
12:43pm - Still no updates with the UIGEA. To my somewhat suprise no news was issued at Cardplayer, PokerNews or any other poker news site on the issue. I tried contacting Steven Laughton whom was listed as the Treasury contact at the Reginfo.gov website for this issue but got his voice mail so I sent in an email to see if he could give us any sort of updates. He must have been out to lunch. We also tried to get a hold of Jennifer at the press office for the US Treasury Banking but again her and Steven must be having lunch together, no answer. We’ll try back later and also post the email response once it comes in from Steven.
12:59am – Ok so today is the day where the UIGEA’s 270 grace period was supposed to be up. What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. It’s just another day in the calendar. There have been many Bills passed and signed into legislation tens of years ago where regulations were never set forth. It doesn’t mean things won’t change tomorrow or in the near future but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Either way, I’ll be watching the Government Publications (GPO) and Treasury’s site every hour because….I have no life. 
Updated July 9
4:22pm – Because of the US crackdown with online poker the number of entrants for the Main Event of the World Series of Poker has decreased. Last years number was 8773 and this year we only had 5200 entrants.
Updated July 7
1:18pm – The countdown has begun. Only 3 days left until the Treasury was expected to release regulations for the UIGEA. Will it happen on time….VERY unlikely.
1:12pm – A lawyer in Washington is suing the state over the gambling ban. Lee Rousso, the lawyer, says he has a darn good chance of winning because it violates the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause. He believes the law is protectionism for the state run casinos and poker rooms.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/322849_poker07.html
Updated July 6
12:29pm – Starting today Nucharge at Bodog.com is now letting customers withdraw money back to their account from the poker site. It was only a deposit method prior to today. According to the email, you can then withdraw from Nucharge via bank wire, direct deposit or by using your pre-paid teleco card. According to various forum posters, this doesn’t seemed to be offered to everyone just yet.
Updated July 5
12:21pm – We contacted Edward over at IMEGA yesterday to see if there were any updates. IMEGA is the group seeking an injunction against the UIGEA and filed suit against Attorney General Gonzalez. We were looking to see if a court date had been set yet. The answer is no but here is his full reply.
