Last night Calvinayre.com broke the news that Bodog.com had been seized by the Department of Homeland Security. The Bodog.com domain had not been used since May 2011. It instead forwarded to Bodog.eu which is the new website for the Bodog brand. Players in the U.S. were moved to a new brand, Bovada.lv, in December 2011. Calvin Ayre and others at Bodog seemed to shrug off the news that the domain that was used to promote their biggest brand for years was seized.

This morning an indictment was unsealed that named Calvin Ayre, James Philip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney. The indicted came out of the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland. There are two charges filed against the company and their officers. The charges are operating an illegal sports betting operation and conspiracy to commit money laundering. None of the four indicted individuals are in custody.

This is unlikely to affect the actual business of Bodog and their U.S. facing brand Bovada. True Poker and their parent company survived the Blue Monday indictments, and we expect Bodog/Bovada will do the same. Both are examples of very strong gaming companies with years of experience.

Each month we review the payment processing for US facing online poker rooms. Since our January US payment processing post there have been two major news stories in the U.S. online poker market. The biggest news was that Everleaf Gaming left the U.S. market after one of their payment processors had money seized by the U.S. Government. The seizures came from bank wires that were in transit.

The other major news was that the troubled World Poker Exchange closed their poker room. World Poker Exchange was always given an F rating due to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in outstanding cashouts that spanned years. We will no longer include them in our monthly grades. Their low grade sports book still operates and accepts U.S. players.

We are still grading on a curve as there is no such thing as instant cashouts for U.S. players. If a poker room is processing some form of cashout in less than a week, they are going to receive a good grade. With all of the payment processing issues facing the U.S. market, players know that by now any withdrawal request will require patience.

True Poker/Americas Cardroom A- (A-)

Players are reporting that cashout speeds are the same this month as they were last month. Cash transfer requests are processed in 1-4 days. Debit cards, which require a one week approval process, are being processed in 2-4 days. The debit card can be used to withdraw cash from ATM machines and can be used at some point of sales. While fast, both of these options carry high fees with them. Players can receive up to one free check withdrawal per month. Checks are processed in 1-3 weeks. Bank wires are currently unavailable to U.S. players.

Intertops B (A-)

Intertops slipped a bit this month. This is because they no longer offer players one free bank wire per month. That is because like at all U.S. facing rooms, bank wires are not currently an option. U.S. Players that wish to withdraw from Intertops will get hit with some steep fees. Players may request a check for $150-$3000 for a $50 fee. Checks are delivered in 3-7 days. Players may request a cash transfer as well. These cash transfers are processed in 1-3 days. The fees for a cash transfer is $70 for $150-$500, $85 for $501-$1000 and $180 for $1001-$2500.

Bodog/Bovada C (C+)

The loss of a bank wire option has hurt Bodog/Bovada's ability to process large withdrawals. Checks are taking 2-4 weeks to arrive. MyPayLinq is also available to some players, but the fees are close to 10% of the withdrawal. Rapid Transfer, which is the same as a cash transfer, is available to some players that previously deposited by cash. Rapid Transfer cashouts take less than a week.

Merge Gaming C- (C-)

Merge Gaming checks are taking 6-8 weeks which is the same speed as last month. Players can withdraw $100-$2500 for a small fee. These fees tend to be $20 or less, depending on the player's VIP level. There have been a few reports of bad checks in the last month, but the problem is not widespread.

Cake Poker D+ (D-)

Cake Poker continues to hang around the D grades with their U.S. cashouts. Their cashouts times have improved slightly in the past week. Just a few weeks ago, checks were taking 4-5 months to get processed. In the last week, that time has gone down to just over 3 months. Many players reported processed checks in the past week and it appears that a new check processor may have been found to help remove some of the backlog. Players may request one free check per month for $500-$3000.

Everleaf Gaming D (C)

Everleaf Gaming left the U.S. market on February 10th after a change of terms was posted on their website on February 9th. There have been no U.S. cashouts since that date. Players outside the U.S. have experienced serious delays as well. My sources tell me that there is a good chance that this will work itself out. That is the only reason I am giving Everleaf Gaming a D and not a lower grade. The situation at Everleaf Gaming is not helpless. There is certainly a reason to be anxious and cautious, and players certainly have every reason to be worried, but it is not time to give up on U.S. player's money yet. It is too soon to throw in the towel. By the time we publish our next report we should know whether Everleaf Gaming has been able to meet their obligations.

Everleaf Gaming amended their terms and conditions today. Players had to agree to these terms to access parts of the poker software. Of particular concern was terms #18.

No person who is resident in Malta, France and USA may open an account, play, or in any other way participate in the ELG offerings and/or services.

Players from Malta were already restricted from playing on Everleaf Gaming, but France and the USA were new additions to the restricted country list. While the terms stated US players could not play, US players were still playing real money poker. Support had little to say about the new terms. Then Neil from Minted Poker posted at Two Plus Two confirming that US players would be banned shortly from the network.

Neil went on to say that one of the US payment processors had been seized by U.S. authorities. Funds that were meant to pay U.S. player withdrawals were also seized. Neil continued by saying that Everleaf Gaming and their licensor, the Lottery and Gaming Authority in Malta, agreed that leaving the U.S. market was in their best interest.

There has been no time frame announced for when U.S. players will be banned from the network, but it is expected that it will occur at some point on Friday. That is when the network will make an official announcement about the new terms and conditions.

Everleaf Gaming is in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as to how U.S. players will be refunded their money. This goes for players expecting withdrawals and players with funds on the network. There is no estimate time frame for reimbursement to U.S. players.

Minted Poker also made it clear that players outside the U.S. would continue to be served, including existing players in France, and that all tables would be converted to Euros in the near future. Minted Poker also stated that funds are ring fenced as required by Maltese gaming laws.

At this point, this appears to be isolated incident with Everleaf Gaming, and even though there is reason to be cautious, there are currently no indications that other rooms are in danger of leaving the U.S. market. When Everleaf Gaming makes their announcement about this situation, we will make sure to update this story.