Suckout King
09-21-2006, 11:03 AM
Following the arrest of a UK businessman connected with Sportingbet who own Paradise Poker and general worries relating to the legalities of online gaming in the states and fear of a clamp down from Authorities many sites are telling their USA players to withdraw their funds by a certain date and are stopping taking in new USA players.
If you are a USA player it is important that you check your mail box (and the website) of any site in which you have money. Initially it seems that it is mainly the small sites that are withdrawing USA members where as the bigger sites are sitting tight.
The position in regards to online gambling in the UK is reasonably clear but the USA position is still not too clear although court cases over the next few months could help to clarify it.
What is worth stressing is that the worst case scenario for USA online poker lovers is that companies based in the USA cannot be involved in online gaming and if you are "caught" playing online poker you could be charged there is really not much they can do with respect to a non usa site if none of its employees venture into the country.
I cannot see the likes of the UK courts supporting an extridition case for someone running a business that was legal in the UK and having it open to USA players. I could be wrong but i would be surprised if that held up. Then there are the many "lawless" states where casinos/poker sites could be set up without fear of any action being taken against them as long as employees stayed clear of the states.
It is getting harder to deposit on online gaming sites in the USA even via services like Neteller but i am confident that there will always be ways round this. What i would say is that whilst the goings on in the USA at the moment will scare many away it will always be possible without zoning of the internet (which is highly unlikely at the moment) that USA players will continue to be able to play poker even if the worst case happens in respect of the legal position of online gaming.
If you are a USA player it is important that you check your mail box (and the website) of any site in which you have money. Initially it seems that it is mainly the small sites that are withdrawing USA members where as the bigger sites are sitting tight.
The position in regards to online gambling in the UK is reasonably clear but the USA position is still not too clear although court cases over the next few months could help to clarify it.
What is worth stressing is that the worst case scenario for USA online poker lovers is that companies based in the USA cannot be involved in online gaming and if you are "caught" playing online poker you could be charged there is really not much they can do with respect to a non usa site if none of its employees venture into the country.
I cannot see the likes of the UK courts supporting an extridition case for someone running a business that was legal in the UK and having it open to USA players. I could be wrong but i would be surprised if that held up. Then there are the many "lawless" states where casinos/poker sites could be set up without fear of any action being taken against them as long as employees stayed clear of the states.
It is getting harder to deposit on online gaming sites in the USA even via services like Neteller but i am confident that there will always be ways round this. What i would say is that whilst the goings on in the USA at the moment will scare many away it will always be possible without zoning of the internet (which is highly unlikely at the moment) that USA players will continue to be able to play poker even if the worst case happens in respect of the legal position of online gaming.