Online gambling crackdown puts poker world in limbo

Greg Raymer, whose $160 entry fee in an online poker tournament led to a $5 million win at the 2004 World Series of Poker, says it's hard to tell how a federal crackdown on online gaming will affect WSOP entries this year. But he's a gambler. If he had to bet, he'd figure on a sizeable drop.

The 2011 WSOP, a series of 58 events, starts May 31 in Las Vegas. Its Main Event, which begins July 7, had 7,319 entries last year.

"If I was actually putting a number to bet on, I would say more like somewhere in the low 5,000s (this year)," Raymer said by phone from his home in Raleigh, N.C. "If you made me pick a number because you were going to bet either over or under … it would be something like 5,250."

Last Friday, federal authorities in New York targeted three online gaming firms: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. Eleven people were charged with bank fraud and illegal gambling. Restraining orders were issued against about 75 bank accounts allegedly used to process payments in 14 countries.

Some fallout so far:

•Full Tilt has been a major sponsor in mixed martial arts. It was about to return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But Caren Bell, a spokeswoman for UFC's parent company Zuffa, confirmed in an email to USA TODAY the deal has been shelved.

•ESPN2, which was to begin taped coverage of the North American Poker Tour Monday, said the shows will not air. PokerStars was presenting sponsor.

"Plans have not changed" for the WSOP, said spokesman Mike Soltys of ESPN, which aired WSOP shows from July 27 through Nov. 9 last year.

The World Series of Poker, not affiliated with PokerStars or the other two firms and operated by Caesars Entertainment, declined comment on possible effects on its 2011 entries because of the crackdown.

The Main Event took a hit after 2006 passage of the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prohibits firms from knowingly accepting U.S. payments in connection with unlawful Internet gambling.

There were a record 8,773 entries in the Main Event in 2006. The next year, after the WSOP prohibited third parties such as online firms from directly paying the $10,000 entry fees for participants, entries fell to 6,358.

Entries rebounded steadily in recent years. Last year's total (7,319) was second most all time.

Raymer was a patent attorney when he won his $10,000 seat in 2004 by playing on PokerStars.

"Back then, PokerStars would send the money to Vegas and buy you in and you had to play," said Raymer. "You didn't have the option of keeping the cash."

With no third-party entries since 2007, online firms still offered tournaments in which thousands could earn the equal of a Main Event buy-in. It was up to them whether they played.

Raymer said the "real surprising" thing was most opted for the Main Event. "Over the years, I think it's been 70-80% or more," he said.

With the crackdown, Raymer said, "Things are so fluid right now. We're not sure how things will be even in a week."

Now, it's uncertain whether and when U.S. players might get access to money in online accounts. "Some of them had been planning to start a cash-out process here in the next month or so of getting money in hand to go to the World Series of Poker," said Raymer. "Now, they might not be able to get access to that money."

Multiple events at the WSOP have entry fees of $1,000-$1,500. There is one for $25,000. The highest buy-in is $50,000 for an event geared toward to pros.

"You've got a guy that has enough money that he's going to come play like every other tournament (out of 58) at the World Series with buy-ins totaling $100,000-$200,000," said Raymer. "And he can't play because he didn't have enough money in his checking account or whatever. It was all in his online accounts."

Through sponsorship deals with online companies, many top pros also had their buy-ins paid.

Raymer said his endorsement deal with PokerStars ended about three months ago.

"Just because my contract had expired, and we didn't agree on terms for a new contract," he said. " {hellip} So it's not like directly impacting me right now. But obviously, it's going to have a huge negative impact on the American poker world, not just online poker."

Raymer is on the board of the Pokers Players Alliance, an advocacy group which has lobbied Congress to regulate, legalize and tax online poker.

"The government shouldn't have anything to do with morality in general," said Raymer. " {hellip} The government should be protecting us here. That's why they should be creating a law to license and regulate online poker, the same way they protect us from bad food. {hellip} These people (in onine poker) are saying, 'Please, pass the law, give us a license and then we'll be happy to pay taxes.' "

Raymer said the federal crackdown could mobilize the poker playing public — and the pros.

"The silver lining in this, and this is still definitely a cloud … is that poker players tend to be a bit lazy," Raymer said.

"Some of them work very hard and study and train. But a lot of poker players do tend to be pretty lazy. … So even when it came to things like joining the PPA (Poker Players Alliance), writing to your members of Congress … the players just wouldn't do it."

He hopes that changes.

"Now, all of a sudden, millions of poker players have just been jerked away (from online play), and the message to them is clear … We all have to get involved. We all have to let our members of Congress know that if they don't do the right thing, we're voting their (rear) out of office and putting in someone who will do the right thing."

I'm Canadian so you would think I wouldn't have problem.
But I was affected too.
Things are getting better for me, now
Lots of Merge Networks sites, so, nothing bad there.
FTP is working for me now it didn't for a while.
FTP links now directed to "co.uk" not ".com".
AP has always worked, so, no problems there.
UB, I don't have anymore.
and I don't play at PokerStars.

Saw news today that PS got their .com domain back to help facilitate withdrawals by US players. Not sure about FTP or UB but it is good news that even people at FTP should get their money. Question is how soon? Also, is it illegal to cash a check or accept a bank transfer. The boilerplate the DOJ put up on the sites made it sound to me like it may be illegal to even cash a check you earned because it came from one of these rooms. Doesn't mean that any of them will be back in the US soon. I don't understand either how it is Carbon and others stay open when this is going on. As far as I know they process checks the same way. If not then why wouldn't FTP and PS have used the same banking institutions instead of allegedly lieing to other banks to get it done? Also, what if the money is earned strictly in freerolls? If there isn't any wagering of your own money, then where's the crime?

Thanks a lot for sharing this information. It is very informative and helpful.


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