Be sure to follow the Poker Affiliate Solutions Twitter feed for the latest industry and marketing updates. On Tuesday, US players at a PPA fly-in were given new hope as Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced that he would be introducing a brand new poker bill this year. Unfortunely, the industry was not immune to more bad news as the US government unsealed new indictments where 11 more online gambling domain names were seized. In this week’s edition of our weekly industry roundup, we take a look at these stories as well as progress with the Nevada poker bill and the shutdown of Quicktender. In European news, Spain has issued its first license in their new regulated market. Latest “Blue Monday” Seizures Grab 11 more Domain Names: The settled dust kicked up a bit on Monday as a new indictment was unsealed that saw 3 more indictments and 11 new domain seizures. The most notable domain names seized were that of the Yatahay Network's True Poker and Doyles Room along with highly rated sportsbooks Bookmaker and Beted. True Poker, Doyles Room and Bookmaker almost immediately switched to the .ag domain name extension and are continuing to accept real money US play at the time of this writing. Rep. Joe Barton Announces New Poker Bill: There is certainly a lot of anger brewing in the industry regarding the way the government is treating online poker right now, which could to lead to poker players aggressively getting behind a new poker bill. Poker players got a new taste of that at a PPA Fly-in on Tuesday, as Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced that he intends to introduce a new poker bill that would legalize and regulate online poker. Will the anger and activism of poker players and industry proponents finally be enough? Usemywallet/Quicktender Shuts Down: Last week, we informed readers about the halting of UseMyWallet withdrawals due to suspicions that their funds had been seized. On Wednesda,y fears were realized when players started to receive emails and messages on the Usemywallet/Quicktender website that their service has been stopped indefinitely due to frozen accounts. Sure not to calm many nerves, the statement read: "at this time we are unable to confirm when or if we could make payments of remaining balances." Spain Issues First License: EGamingReview has reported that Casino Grand Madrid, a brick and mortar operator, has received the first online gambling license in Space in the autonomous region of Madrid. The company will offer poker, blackjack, roulette and slots on a Playtech-based software platform. In the article, EGR says the new platform could be up and running within a month. 5/29 Clarification: In the original version of this story, we implied that the license was the first under the new nationally regulated Spanish market. The license was actually issued by the autonomous region of Madrid; the national legislation still needs to be submitted to the EC for a 3-month review. Thanks to commenter, Self Made, for pointing out our error. Nevada Poker Bill Makes Quick Progress: A gutted version of Nevada's poker bill has passed the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee and will now go to a floor vote. If passed, the bill would authorize the NGC to adopt regulations for intrastate poker at a time DOJ approval is given or at a time federal law makes the position clear. The original bill would have prohibited the NGC from denying licenses to existing online poker sites such as PokerStars. Traffic Update: Overall online poker traffic dropped 2.6% over the week, according to PokerScout. Much of the drop can be attributed to Full Tilt Poker traffic declining 11% over the week, possibly due to worries from the site's delay paying US players. On the Cereus Network, traffic is now down 96% since Black Friday as the site seemingly fights for survival. Merge Gaming Network has grown over 70% since Black Friday, and although traffic at the largest US-facing site is leveling off at the moment, they still have seen over 2,500 real money players during peak time in 23 out of 26 days in May. The site is almost as large as Cereus was pre-Black Friday. By comparison, before Black Friday the site previously averaged 1,400 real money players during peak times. Jottings: Iowa governor signs poker study bill....Merge Gaming Rakeback Ends for New Players on June 1st. Network also stops accepting NEW players from 5 states...Bradley Franzen, whose company processed payments for poker sites has pleaded guilty ...USA Today reports on the PPA fly-in
Be sure to follow the Poker Affiliate Solutions Twitter feed for the latest industry and marketing updates. Friday morning, Full Tilt Poker began making rakeback payments to US players that earned rakeback in the last few days before they closed their doors to US real money play. In this week’s Online Poker Industry update, we take a look at this development plus the latest from Cereus and the most recent traffic updates. Full Tilt Poker Update: US players reported receiving rakeback payments on Friday morning for play from April 12th to April 15th. This is for rakeback that would have normally been paid on April 22nd (non-US players have continued to be paid as normal). Players funds still of course remain in limbo, but this news presents a positive step…Could player funds be next? The last statement released on May 15th said the following Since April 15th and the days immediately following, Full Tilt Poker faced numerous challenges and hurdles to ensuring the smooth operation of its international business and the orderly return of US player funds. FTP has worked tirelessly to address these issues and has made significant progress on both fronts. FTP's international business operations are returning to normal while we focus on ensuring the safe and orderly return of US player deposits. We are absolutely committed to making sure that US players are refunded as soon as possible. We apologize for the delay and the fact that we underestimated the time it would take to work through these issues. We will update our US players when we have more specific information to provide. Cereus Network Blocks US players: Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars blocked US players from the tables almost immediately after April 15th. Absolute Poker and UB.com, on the other hand, gave players a warning in their client that US play was no longer allowed. Despite the warning, players were still able to sit down and play. On Thursday that changed, as players are now greeted with a message saying that games cannot be found. California and Nevada New Urgency to Regulate?: One positive that could end up coming as a result of Black Friday is that states may be in more of hurry to get intrastate regulation done. We saw some more evidence of that this week in Nevada and California. EGR reported that AB258 has passed the Nevada state Assembly and now moves on to the Senate. In California, State Senator Lou Correa posted a press release on his site that SB 40 will be amended as an “urgency bill.” Correa stated “with federal action looming and the market wide open, we have to quickly authorize online poker in California.” Lederer and Ferguson Leave PPA: The PPA announced on Monday that Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson have decided to step down from the PPA board. Because of the poker pros’ connections to Full Tilt Poker, many saw the affiliation post-Black Friday as a conflict of interest. Traffic Update: PokerScout has released their latest traffic report. The Merge Gaming Network is up over 80% since Black Friday and reached 3,000 peak players for the second time on May 16th. Cereus network saw another 29% decline in traffic over the week bringing their total to a 83% decline. Jottings: Doyle Brunson has left Doyles Room… Merge Gaming is no longer accepting new players from the state of New York…Usemywallet has halted withdrawals. If you would like to see all the Black Friday updates from PAS over the first month, check out our last Black Friday post with a convenient summary.
Last week I wrote a blog post on USA Payment Processor options which focused mostly on depositing. You can check out Part 1 here. This entry will center around withdrawing and will also include a chart of current Payment Processors for all major USA-facing poker sites. Hopefully you find this handy. Some of us actually win (unfortunately, not me much anymore) and want to withdraw funds. Understandably, the poker sites are slightly less thrilled with withdrawals versus deposits, but most sites that work with PAS do offer multiple ways to get your money back. Of course, with e-wallets you can also withdraw. This method is excellent for depositing and withdrawing to various poker sites, but when you finally want to receive your funds (bank account, check), it's not as much of a compelling option due to high fees. USA players are unable to even withdraw from an e-wallet such as Click2pay to a bank account or check. Like depositing, the easiest way to get your funds is eCheck or bank wire. With a bank wire a small fee may be levied by your bank. Reports of relatively long days of both processing and receiving the bank transfers are common. Players can even request a check, although direct fees are more frequent. In the case of a check bouncing, contact the poker site and they will work out another option for you. When making a withdrawal to a bank account it is wise to have an account devoted to poker rather than your personal account. If you have an issue making a withdrawal (such as the bank not liking the source of the funds) you can more easily take your business elsewhere. Summary If none of these methods are workable for you, you can always contact the poker site's customer support. Arguably, more than anything they want your deposits and will work hard to get you playing. So when all else fails when trying to make a deposit or withdrawal -- or if you just want more information on the depositing process for a particular option -- email support or contact them via live chat. Below I have provided a chart of available deposit and withdrawal options as well as some additional handy information. This is to the best of knowledge/research. A few general points first: --This information is very much subject to change --Deposit and withdrawal fees are commonly deducted from USA player's MGR (applicable to rakeback players). If there are any applicable out-of-pocket fees, they will be listed below. --With a withdrawal option, the poker site commonly requires that a deposit be made with the option before they will process a withdrawal --ID documentation is often required when making a withdrawal with methods such as checks, eChecks or bank wires. --Deposit and Withdrawal limits can frequently be raised, or even lowered in the case of a problem gambler. As with any of my posts, please let me know of any corrections that you feel need to be made. A red "x" will indicate recent issues with the method.
Updated 12-02-2010 at 02:07 PM by TimPAS
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