The DOJ cannot seize non ".com" websites and offshore business'; The United States does not own the World Wide Web. They can however, attempt indirect "strange-holds" by cutting off banks etc but Merge's offiliates aren't ".com" and they use Canadian banking to do the financial gymnastics to run the business.

Short answer it's not worth the DOJ's time to come after them.

thats why BRM is out the window. play the $10-30 MTTs and cash out whenever u get a nice score and keep a few hundred on there to play with. ya we're taking a risk but the amount i stand to lose wont bother me. there are however some pretty serious grinders on merge who prob have more money to lose. playing my free time is more appealing to me until it gets regulated

Pretty sure they are run by Native North Americans. It doesn't mean they won't do anything, but I think it provides an additional layer of protection.

If you look at a bovada deposit on your credit card it says jewlery and stuff like that. I stopped playing on that shady site because they are doing the same stuff that brought down stars and tilt.

They aren't likely legal in many states.

No they aren't fully protected, their processors get seized all the time.

It's worth noting they are only a fraction of the size of the previous two big sites that got seized, and I don't even think they are half as large as the theft site that got seized (AP/UB).

In the event of decent, widespread online poker legislation (think Cali, Florida, Nevada, Illinois, NY and some smaller states), the sites will likely be moot in the USA, as they won't be able to compete with sites that can insta cashout their playerbase and legally advertise.

Yep this adds to the risk profile imo. When legislation hits how long for they go belly up and the money is gone, but what ya gonna do...take a cash money payout every month and risk the balance or stroke it with play chips on zynga.

op, I have a question for you:

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Poker Inception, IMO.

I bought some books from the Bovada site. Still waiting for them to arrive.

There might be another thread about store items from these sites, but while I'm here... spent my 4 yrs' worth of points on Merge (Carbon) two weeks ago, they said prob within 5 days but maybe up to 28, nothing yet. Anyone else waiting too long? But then it was a big order, 5 nice items.


@ anyone saying it's foolish to play there, prob don't play poker with that sort of risk analysis thinking. Yes it's risky, but I was cashing out more every couple of months than I kept on there for the last couple of years, so ++ev with how much fishier it is than other sites (I'm UK so have the choice). Factored in with how small it is and that the DOJ gambling team were busy with other matters I was well in there. But now that they will soon be free to pursue such things I'm out

While the DOJ might not "actually" run the world....they sure act like they do.

And because they're the DOJ of the most powerful "do whatever the hell we feel like country" on the planet right now, I'd be caution of assuming they can't/won't do things they feel like, even if it violates international law or some treaty in their pursuit of shutting down something they feel as harmful to their country. Especially with big money casino now pushing for control of online poker.

With that said, I still play on those sites. All about risk/reward. Keep as little as required online, and hope to cash out as much as possible as quickly as possible. Still beats flipping burgers

It's a mistake to think the DOJ actually cares about enforcing the laws. If you look at the results, all they cared about was getting money from the sites. Merge/Bovada aren't really big enough to make it worth their time. They don't care if we're playing poker.

That said, you never know what can happen so it's always good to not keep too much money on there anyways.

+1