This post is coming out a bit later than normal because it did not seem fair to grade the payment processing over the holidays. With entire departments off for the holidays, and banks closed, the time required to process a cashout was going to be higher. Unfortunately, it seems that several of the U.S. friendly online poker rooms have been unable to catch up from the holidays. Almost every poker room experienced slower cashouts over the last 6 weeks than they had in the previous period. This month, I started grading on a curve. Cashout speeds are not quick for any U.S. facing room anymore so it is time to start grading on the new reality. Last month's grades are in parenthesis.

True Poker/Americas Cardroom - A- (B)

U.S. players have several cashout options on the network now known as the Winning Poker Network. The fastest options are cash transfer and the debit card option. Both involve high fees, but process in 1-3 days. Players can request a check and expect it in about two weeks unless it is over $1000. If it is over $1000, it is sent by courier and takes about one week. Players requesting over $5000 can receive a bank wire. The fee is $500, or the equivalent in player points. Bank wires over $10,000 have a $600 fee, or the equivalent in player points.

Intertops A- (B)

Intertops has a $150 minimum cashout for U.S. players. There are three cashout options at Intertops. Those are bank wire, check, or cash transfer. A check takes about one week and has a $50 fee. Bank wires take about 1-2 weeks and players receive one for free every month. Cash transfer takes about two days and has a fee of 5-10% depending on its size. Intertops is a member of the Cake Poker Network with their own cashier system.

Bodog/Bovada C+ (B)

It is unknown if the exodus of players after the change to anonymous tables has caused it, but Bodog/Bovada cashouts are taking longer than they did last month. Checks are now taking 2-4 weeks to arrive. Checks are often hand written, and sent from locations outside the U.S. Bank wires also take 2-4 weeks. Many players have reported not being able to cash out by Rapid Transfer anymore, so this is certain to be causing higher volumes to other methods.

Everleaf Gaming C (B+)

Everleaf Gaming was in the top spot last month. This month, Everleaf has fallen quite a bit. This is because cash transfers, the only option for most U.S. player withdrawals, is taking 1-3 weeks. Last month, these same transfers were taking 2-5 days. Bank wires are also available for cashouts, but the minimum is $5000. Even players outside the U.S. are reporting cashout speeds of 1-3 weeks. We will conitnue to monitor the cashout issues at Everleaf Gaming. Everleaf Gaming skins include Minted Poker and Cellsino Poker.

Merge Gaming C- (C)

Checks are taking longer at Merge Gaming than they were last month. Checks are now taking 6-8 weeks to arrive. Last month, checks took 4-7 weeks. Players can request a cashout for between $100 and $2500 for a fee of around $15, depending on their VIP level.

Cake Poker D- (D)

Last month, Cake Poker was taking 8-12 weeks to mail checks to U.S. players. Now it is taking 12-16 weeks for checks to arrive. After a slight improvement on cashout speeds, it seems Cake Poker is going in the wrong direction. Players can request a check for $500-$3000.

WSEX F (F)

We continue with our monthly warning about World Sports Exchange, and their sister poker room World Poker Exchange. WSEX/WPEX owe out over $700,000. Many players have been waiting over a year for a cashout. Even with the added liquidity of football season, WSEX could not lower their outstanding debt. In fact, their outstanding debt grew.

Hopefully the slower cashout speeds are only because of the holiday season. We will check back in the next 3-4 weeks with a new report on U.S. online poker payment processing.

Many online poker affiliates have offered live support to their players. Whether an affiliate is large or small there are pros and cons to offering live support. There are few online poker affiliates that offer live support even though many more have tried it. There is a reason for this.

Positives to Offering Live Support

There are many positive reasons to offer live support to your players. The biggest reason is from a sales lead point of view. If you have a link on your site to live support, and a qualified person is there to talk with the player, the chances of closing a lead increases substantially. The best qualified person is going to be the site owner but a partner or employee with the website that is very familiar with the offers and the online poker industry will be just as good. If a player can get their questions answered thoroughly and quickly they will be much more likely to trust the site and sign up for an offer. The player will have the security of knowing that if there is a problem you are there solve them.

Players will also have questions after they sign up. These questions will include whether a player is tracked, suggestions about a new poker room to try, payment questions or general poker questions. The more a player knows that their affiliate is there for them, the more loyal they will be. This type of player will tell their friends how great the support is and refer other players. Support is important to many players, especially newer players that can grow to become high volume players. There is a big advantage to being on a first name basis with your players and potential sign ups.

Live Support Options

If an affiliate decides to offer live support they have several solutions. They may choose to use a chat program such as MSN or Skype. An affiliate could use a chat program to also accept calls from potential clients. While this is a free solution, there are some downsides. The first issue is that it is difficult to manage any kind of volume on these chat programs. It is difficult to manage multiple conversations without forgetting about a client waiting or making an embarrassing error. Another problem is that spammers will attempt to contact the affiliate on the chat programs and it will be impossible to filter them out since the support person will have to accept all chat requests in case it is a player.

Another option is to rent a live chat software package. These are very efficient for higher volume affiliates. The software keeps good logs and keeps player in a queue to avoid any problems such as confusing multiple conversations. If live support is not available the software will take a message that is forwarded to the affiliate's email address. The downside of this is that the live chat software packages cost about $100 a year. They can be two or three times more for bigger affiliates that need more advanced software solutions. Spammers can also be a nuisance on line chat support as well.

Some live chat companies also offer support services to take the place of having to do support yourself. This is a terrible option. These support people are often outsourced. You will be paying for a service that will be subpar. That is because these support people will not be knowledgeable about your website. The support staff could handle hundreds of different websites. It would be easy for them to make a mistake and confuse one website with another.

Negative With All Live Chat Solutions

The negative for all of these options is that it will eventually become abused. Not only will the spammers become extremely annoying, but the clients may become a problem as well. Many poker affiliates that have attempted live support run into problems where players will ask very basic questions that can be found in the FAQ because they become accustomed to going directly to live support with every easy question. Some players will also vent their bad beat stories to an affiliate if they are available and there is nobody else to online for them to vent. This can become a major time drain and burden when every time a player gets drawn out on they complain on chat programs. After a few "Online poker is rigged" chats with players an affiliate may start to get second thoughts about their choice to offer live support.

Live Chat Policy Suggestions

If you decide to offer live support I have a few suggestions. One is not to use your personal chat accounts. Set up a Skype or MSN account specific to your website. That way you do not ruin a personal chat account with spammers and bad beat stories when you are not working. You should only offer live support during set hours instead of having the chat program open every time you are online. This way a player knows when they can find live chat online and the affiliate is not tied down to live support at all hours of the day. Players can always leave a message, create a support ticket, or send an email if live support is not available.

While many poker affiliates, especially big ones, have abandoned live support there are still many affiliates that choose to use it. If you decide to try live support you should be prepared for some of the issues and the time it will take out of your day. You may greatly increase your player sign ups and retention. You will just need to decide if the loss of productivity is worth it.

In an email sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Senator Jon Kyl, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich communicated a new interpretation of the Wire Act of 1961. The Department of Justice long had the opinion that the Wire Act applied to online poker. According to today's developments, this is no longer the case.

The decision came from a question from two state lotteries that were looking to process payments for lottery tickets across state lines. The Illinois and New York State Lotteries asked the Justice Department for clarification on whether they could transmit payment information to processors in other states. The decision, handed down in September but only publicly released today, stated that lotteries could in fact transmit payment information across state lines. That is because this information was not considered to violate the Wire Act as the Wire Act only applies to sports gambling and contests.

While the effect on existing offshore online poker rooms will likely be negligible, the main point of celebration for U.S. online poker players is that this means that once states pass online poker regulations they will be free to network their online poker rooms. This will add much needed liquidity to small states that decide to legalize and regulate online poker within their borders. Just yesterday, Nevada legalized online poker for their residents. Once other states legalize online poker as well, Nevada would be able to enter into partnerships with other states without interference from the federal government.

This news broke at the end of business on the Friday before Christmas. There is likely to be more news on this topic in the coming weeks. There are quite a few legal opinions on what this means to the online poker industry. After the holidays we hope to receive more clarification as to what today's Department of Justice opinion change means to existing online poker rooms as well as future state regulated online poker.

Nevada became the first state to legalize online poker today. In a 4-0 vote, the Nevada Gaming Control Board approved online gaming regulations. These regulations will allow licensed operators to offer players within the State of Nevada online poker. While online poker in Nevada became legal today, it will be 4-6 weeks before there are licensed online poker rooms in the state. That is because the licensing process has just begun. As soon as an online poker room receives a license they will be able to offer real money play to Nevada players. Licensed online poker rooms will not be able to accept players from outside Nevada until the federal laws are changed and online poker is regulated on a federal level.

Six companies have applied for an online gaming license in Nevada. These companies are International Game Technology (IGT), Bally Technologies, ShuffleMaster, 888 Holdings, Cantor Gaming and South Point Poker. IGT is a slot manufacturer that also owns the online poker network Entraction. Bally Technology is a slot manufacturer. ShuffleMaster manufactures shuffle machines and slots. 888 Holdings is an online gaming company that hosts the World Series of Poker's real money site. Cantor Gaming is a Nevada sports book that already offers mobile horse and sports wagering. South Point Poker is owned by local's casino South Point which already offers a play money online poker room.

The minimum age for players will be 21. There are also regulations that address underage gambling, problem gambling, fraud and identity theft. There are also technical protocols that must be followed including keeping all of the data transfers within the state. Nevada already has legalized internet and mobile sports betting. Online poker will expand on the existing online gaming in Nevada.

When I was first discussing this topic with Craig, the main contributor to the PAS blog, the only news item I could think of was Black Friday. It will always be hard to think about online poker in 2011 without first thinking of Black Friday and how it changed online poker forever. There were many other major stories in 2011 that deserve to be covered in our 2011 Year in Review.

#1 - Black Friday

The main online poker story in 2011, and to some the only story that mattered, occurred on April 15th. Typically April 15th is known as tax day in the US but to online poker players it will now forever be known as the anniversary of Black Friday. This was the day that the U.S. Department of Justice seized the domains of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet/UB.com. Criminal charges were filed against the poker room management and processors. Civil forfeitures were also filed against the online poker rooms and the U.S. Government seized tens of millions of dollars. Within hours, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker banned U.S. players. The Cereus Network, consisting of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, stopped allowing U.S. players to deposit. It would take about a month for Cereus to outright ban U.S. players. Black Friday affected the lives of tens of thousands of players, affiliates, employees and vendors around the world.

#2 - The Collapse of Full Tilt Poker and Cereus

Related to Black Friday, Full Tilt Poker and Cereus closed their doors this year. Full Tilt Poker was shut down on June 29th by the Alderney Gaming Control Commission after failing to pay players after Black Friday. At the time, Full Tilt Poker was the 2nd largest online poker room. It was later discovered that Full Tilt Poker had been accepting echeck deposits from U.S. players but did not have access to the U.S. banking system. This meant that they could not collect on these deposits. The U.S. government alleges that the board of directors continued to pay themselves out of player funds knowing that the company could not cover player deposits. It is estimated that Full Tilt Poker owes out over $300 million to players while having little, if any, cash reserves. Groupe Bernard Tapie appears to be well on their way to reopening Full Tilt Poker although it will be without U.S. players.

The Cereus Network collapse did not surprise as many industry observers as the Full Tilt Poker collapse did. Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet both had insider cheating scandals among other questionable business practices that gave them a poor reputation in the industry. Even with the past issues, there were still thousands of loyal Cereus Network players which helped make it a top 10 room. While Cereus is still technically operating, no players have received a payment in months and the network declared that they would go into liquidation.

#3 - Bodog

Bodog has had the spotlight on it for much of this year. Bodog has been very vocal about protecting recreational players to preserve the ecosystem of their poker room. Whether you agree with them or not, you have to agree that they have taken some innovative, and even drastic steps, to achieve their goal. The first step in that direction was to remove full tables and waitlists from the software. In November, Bodog removed usernames from all tables. This made all tables anonymous and caused some of the most heated debates of the year between players, affiliates, and Bodog representatives.

Bodog also announced earlier this year that they would create a new brand that would service their U.S. players. Just this week Bovada.lv was launched. It would seem that this the new domain is a combination of Bodog and Nevada. The .lv means the domain is registered in Latvia, not Las Vegas like it may imply. All U.S. players were moved to this brand. Outside of the different brand name, nothing changed for players as the website and it is still managed by the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group which the same company that has managed Bodog's U.S. players for the last five years.

#4 - Blue Monday

Overshadowed by Black Friday, Blue Monday occurred on May 24th. Undercover U.S. agents in Maryland set up a bogus payment processor called Linwood Payment Solutions. This bogus processor was used to locate bank accounts of ewallets and gambling sites that accepted U.S. players. While Blue Monday was aimed more at sportsbooks, True Poker and DoyleRoom got caught up in the bust by federal authorities in Maryland. This was due to the relationship the poker rooms had to one of the sportsbooks involved. The major victim of Blue Monday was BetEd. BetEd folded due to the bank seizures. The other websites involved simply bought new domains and continued on with their business.

Sports books and poker rooms were not the only businesses affected by Blue Monday. Major U.S. payment processor QuickTender, also known as UseMyWallet, also went down in the Blue Friday seizures. They used Linwood Payment Solutions to transfer money to U.S. players. QuickTender had bank accounts seized and funds in transit to U.S. players were also seized. This effectively put QuickTender/UseMyWallet out of business.

#5 - Merge Blocks New US Players - Then Reenters US Market

Merge Gaming exploded in growth quickly after Black Friday. The network quickly became a top 10 player in the online poker industry. This caused a burden on an already strained U.S. payment processing market. In an attempt to help catch up on their payment processing, Merge Gaming stopped accepting new U.S. players in June. Existing U.S. players were allowed to continue to play on the network. Merge Gaming also stopped allowing new players to receive rakeback in June. In October, after months of rumors as to whether Merge Gaming would ever reenter the market, Merge Gaming once again started accepting U.S. players. After seeing its traffic slip during the summer, Merge Gaming is once again a top 10 online poker room.

#6 - Nevada Online Poker Licenses Accepted

The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced that applications for online poker licenses would begin in February 2012. The licenses would valid for intrastate online poker to Nevada residents. While online poker will not begin until 2012, just the announcement that online poker for real money would happen in the U.S. is a huge step forward for online poker proponents. Nevada is currently the only state that has any form of legalized internet gambling beyond gambling exempted by the UIGEA. Nevada currently allows sports betting over the internet.

#7 - New Jersey Legislature Passes Online Poker - Vetoed by Governor

In March, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill that passed the New Jersey Legislature that would have legalized and regulated intrastate online gambling. In his veto message, Gov. Christie stated that he felt that placing the servers in Atlantic City would not satisfy the state's constitutional requirement that all casino style gambling only take place within the City of Atlantic City. Governor Christie suggested a statewide referendum which is the only way that the state's constitution could be changed.

Governor Christie is not against the expansion of gambling in New Jersey. He supported last month's non binding referendum that instructed the state's legislature to pass legalized sports betting in the state. Should a sports gambling law pass in New Jersey, it would require a challenge of the Bradley Act. The Bradley Act forbids sports gambling in all but 4 states. New Jersey is not one of those four states that is exempted.

#8 - Regulated European Markets

All of the bad news in the U.S. has overshadowed some of the regulatory news in Europe. Belgium, Denmark, and Spain all licensed and regulated online poker this year. While Belgium's law passed last year, it did not fully go into effect until this year. Unfortunately for Spanish players, their regulated market will be segregated from other European markets. Spanish online gaming regulations go into effect on December 20th.

Ring fencing has been an issue for regulated markets as it lowers liquidity for the poker room. This makes online poker less attractive to players in those countries due to the smaller poker room sizes. When you add in the new taxes imposed on regulated gaming it can affect the bottom line for affiliates and poker room operators.

#9 - Washington DC Legalizes Online Poker - Never Launches

The City of Washington DC became the first U.S. jurisdiction to pass online poker. Fantasy sports betting was also legalized. The law was attached to a spending bill and passed. Congress approved the law by not acting on it within 30 days. After the announcement that the law had passed, it drew sharp criticism. There have been several hearings that have been met with fierce opposition. At this point, nothing has happened with online poker in Washington D.C. The measure has not been repealed although city council members have attempted to do so.

#10 - Non Profit Online Poker News Services

Disgruntled by the bias of the major online poker media sites that generally derive their income from online poker rooms, two new online poker news sites were launched after Black Friday. The two news websites are Pokerfuse.com and Subjectpoker.com. While both websites are top quality, they take different approaches to online poker news. PokerFuse is a full service news outlet. New stories are posted daily on the website with some opinion pieces. Multiple stories often appear on a single day.

Subject:Poker is more of an investigative

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