Let me start by saying that this is a lurker account I set-up to protect my identity and the identity of my brother-in-law. I have been about a once a day poster on twoplustwo for a couple of years now, and I’m a successful recreational player. I have not put any money online, post Black Friday.

I have a brother-in-law, who works in the Office of Enforcement Operations, for the DOJ.

While visiting my sister this weekend, my brother in law had some pretty interesting things to tell me regarding online gambling. I should also note that he told me several times that the DOJ was actively investigating internet gambling, including poker (which he does not play, and assures me they consider gambling), and that the events of “BF” would eventually, inevitably happen. I only halfheartedly believed him, or that they could ever put a case together, even if they wanted to. (see Calvin Ayre) He mentioned it rarely for a couple of years, usually after some processor had been seized, berating me a little about being an enemy of the state, in that halfhearted but still law enforcement, arrogant, dickhead kind of way. Other than a few processors being seized, nothing had ever really materialized. Daniel Tzvetkoff was the huge break.

This weekend he told me that they are still very aggressively going after online gambling sites, and even went as far as to name Sportsbook.com (which is attached to the Merge network). He said there is a lot of pressure coming down regarding the enforcement of anti-online gambling legislation. He said poker sites that also have sports books are more at risk, BUT added something that I thought to be some-what good news.

He believes that legislation allowing online poker and certain types of online lotteries are going to pass very soon, but he says before that can happen they HAVE to push out the sites that have been/are operating illegally. They either leave willingly—like Bodog, or they will face the same fate as PS, FTP, UB, and to a lesser degree Party.

His exact words: “They are likely very close to legislation. There is more incentive to aggressively push out these illegal sites, and soon. I think you will see another round of indictments by the end of the year.” Also when I asked him if they lurked forums for information, he just laughed and said, “what do you think they don’t know how to use google?”

He asked me if I had still had money on any online sites, and advised that I either get it off asap, or only have what I wouldn’t mind losing.

I only hope this posts adds to the already long list of reasons why you should be wary of any online gambling site right now, and keep your balances to a minimum. If this year, the DOJ does shut down the kind of sites that are still operating in the U.S., I doubt you will see your balances.

bish where my money

So he not only enforces the law but he also enacts the law?

He is the Judiciary and the Legislative and the Executive branch. A jack of all trades.

this doesn't seem very surprising

the more people that lose money in a 3rd round of indictments = more people that aren't going to play online poker in the future

The whole idea of attacking these small sites now is insane and probably -EV for the companies that will offer legal poker in the future. How naive do they have to be to say, "let's **** over our future customers yet again"

TY

this is why i am so reluctant to play on the sites that cater to USA players right now. while they claim player funds are safe.......they take SOOOO DAM LONG to get you paid.......if they would just send you your funds immediately upon request, I think MANY players would gladly pay rake and accept some risk.

+1

well thats good news for the future of ol poker.

If this is phony you have done a good job op. I am intrigued. Let's let this thread develop into something here first.

How did Bodog leave willingly? They still accept US players.

you mean like pressure from harry reid/jon kyl? god i hope so.

Jesse Jacobs?

kinda like Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad?

and your connection to the DOJ is a brother-in-law just like in Breaking Bad too?

did you make this up? sounds a little like you made this up

do you like Breaking Bad? i love that show

2-3 skins from Merge have already confirmed that player funds are segregated... so, personally, I am not worried about them.

Which would those be?

IMHO it makes sense that the sites still allowing US players will need to be pushed out of the US market before legislation passes, whether that be willingly or by indictments.

Whether this is true or not, I would rather be safe. Thanks for the heads up.

statist

imo it is much more likely the DOJ is actively pursuing action against current US serving sites than the OP is likely to have a brother in law in the DOJ.


... whatever that means

id rather harry reid and jon kyl succeed, and bills like correa sb40 fail, yeah.

don't quote me on it but I believe RPM and Lock did.. but it could also be Carbon instead of Lock.

almost all the Merge skins use the Merge cashier, so which skin said it is basically irrelevant

segregation doesn't imply safety though

i think i get it

really though?

DOJ pursuing FTP/Stars/APUB wasn't a big enough waste of public money, now they're going after sites with one or two thousand people that mostly just host $10 sitngos?

seems like such small beans to me

Hi OP, this goes to your brother-in-law and all the "wise" people that work for the DOJ: How about laying some charges to the bankers that are responsible for the greatest fraud ever committed of 2008?
This witch hunt to catch peanuts is so stupid, while the real fraudsters are getting away with murder and the DOJ turns their back to them. F your bro-in-law, F the DOJ, F the govt! There I said it!

I wish i could confirm this but you are dead wrong. I have money on RPM and Carbon and have send emails and asked RPM Seth as well if player funds were segregated. They will absolutely not admit that they are which leads me to believe that they are not segregated. The response that myself and a few others have gotten is, "we want you to know that player funds are not used for operational purposes" which sounds to me like all the money is in one big account but they claim to always have enough on hand to cover all player accounts. That does absolutely no good if their main account gets seized.

FYI I met one of the Super Friends down at the Hall of Justice and they said the same thing. They asked me not to name them.