celavey
26
2012/01/23 01:08
#289993
Manne wrote:
It was always difficult to tell what was legal and what was not in the US online poker industry post-UIGEA, 2006. We had massive brands such as Party Poker leaving the country and some very big business behind; while Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet and others were only too happy to step up to the mark and fill the gap that Party Poker had left. Since then Black Friday has happened, and the DoJ has closed down the biggest poker sites to US traffic. There are some serious indictments outstanding against these companies and there is massive drama regarding whether members of these sites will ever get their money back, and there have always been questionable elements regarding UIGEA, apparent ‘grey areas’, and what is legal, and what is not.
After Black Friday in April this year, when these domain names were seized, the Merge Poker Network stopped accepting US players. However, it has come to light that some of the sites on this network are again accepting US players. Whether or not this is in opposition to their licensing agreement with Merge, is not as yet known; no official statement has been released. According to reports, online poker sites such as Carbon Poker has started bringing in new US players.
When Black Friday shook the US online poker industry; Merge Poker sites saw a massive surge in new sign ups from US player. However, fearing the same action being taken against them, some sites stopped accepting any more new US players, while still allowing existing members access to their sites. That having been said, a 79% increase in player traffic is not easy to ignore. When Merge decided to no longer accept US players, this did cause problems for payment processors, but at the time, the measure was believed to be temporary, although just how temporary was unclear.
Rumours are now rife, that they removing the ban on accepting new US players. The Merge network is currently ranked as the 12th most popular in this industry. :thumbsup
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2012/01/02
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26
This is not simply big news within the United States. Gaming and gambling operators around the world which may already be working with governments on their lottery initiatives and many other companies without a US presence may now be looking to establish a foothold and ultimately a major presence in the United States. Similarly, US casino and gaming operators, already licensed, may sense the opportunity for foreign investment and the injection of new capital, new expertise and a more global platform.