People are reporting that their echecks are shown as being from the big sites now, no more 3rd party hiding. Thoughts?

wtf that makes no sense whatsoever.

Withdrawls from the sites, not deposits, right? Multiple sites or just one? Seems interesting if more than one decided to do this at the same time. That might imply they coordinated doing this for a reason.

My *guess* is they might be pushing for the big showdown. UIGEA is almost certainly going into effect 6/1 in some form. Unless the treasury puts out guidance saying the UIGEA does not apply to poker because it is a skill game then they might be thinking this is the time to take a stand. With withdrawls clearly legal that seems like a place to start.

Source? (is it from another thread perhaps?)

2 people posted about this in the Stars echeck thread. I have received echeck from both Stars and FT with no mention of the poker site as recently as April 13th.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...l#post18304277

EDIT: Stars credit card DEPOSITS always came through as PStars afaik

From another site, response to question about this apparent change:

Hello Micah, Thank you for allowing us to be of assistance. Please note this is a very recent change that we have implemented in orderto maintain transparency on our financial transactions. I am afraid ourprocessor is unable to go back to using 'xxxxxx.com' as a descriptor due tolegal reasons, as explained on our previous email. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns, we willgladly address them for you. Best regards, Maggie C.PokerStars Payment Services

Interesting. I definitely remember seeing "PSTARS" on my bank transactions for Stars withdrawals in the past... possibly several years ago? Anyway, I'd say the site name is still sort of hidden, it's not like it explicitly says "poker" anywhere.

I could imagine many tellers thinking this was "pornstars" or something like that LOL everytime you go in the bank they're probably like "this perv spends so much money at pornstars it's disgusting" LOL

QQ

Deposit and maybe they'll think you are the pornstar. Hopefully the checks are for thousands instead of hundreds though. Wouldn't want them to think you were too cheap.

Well that should be it for e-checks come June 1st I would think.

EDIT: Barring a peer-to-peer exemption

It was prophesized by the Great One that this would be the first sign of the online poker apocalypse.

Jesus Ferguson?

I do not know his name, but he speaks behind the curtain and laughs at the futility of it all.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

It's hard not to since he's been very accurate so far.

I can confirm this. My last two Stars echeck cashouts had that same descriptor. They were from the same processing company as before (starts with a ***), but with the descriptor indicating the site added. I don't know if it shows up on deposits.

I can't see echecks lasting long if this continues. I know banks won't necessarily go out of their way to root out gambling transactions (except for maybe Ch@se), but if it's staring them in the face I think they'll be forced to do something.

They could be cleaning up the appearance of shady financial transaction to prepare for future U.S. licensing.

Not going to look good on the ol' application when you've spent the past 4 years laundering cashouts through shady 3rd parties.
I once got a Bodog check from a children's textbook company based out of Hong Kong

Confirmed, my last 3 echecks have been this way from stars. It comes in as an abbreviated version of the site name.

I dont know if others will agree, but to me it seems they know they arent really breaking any laws here. The only one they were actually breaking had to do with money laundering or bank fraud because of miscoded transactions. Maybe they finally have said **** it, we're not doing anything wrong, full speed ahead.

Stars has always had that policy regarding credit card deposits afaik. I'm not sure if they're coded as gambling, but I do know they always said PStars.

Yea i remember seeing that maybe a year or 2 back as well. I think the illegal part was how their transactions were showing up on our bank statements. it was always some .com name or something, but not what it is currently when i look on my online banking.

When I first deposited on Stars (shortly after they released their MAC software a year or so ago) I decided to try and use my debit card. It went through and the "cash advance" was listed on my bank statement as being done by ... "PokerStars." It surprised me at first.

But then not so.

Stars is a huge, worldwide company that truly seeks to abide by the law. Mis-coding CC transactions is a crime by itself (in the US anyway).

I suspect this new policy is part of a deliberate response by Stars and/or its processors to the (very questionable) DOJ legal theory that processors are committing bank fraud when they "hide" the subject matter of their transactions.

Skallagrim

thanks skall,

Just wondering, since they have apparently ended this practice that the DOJ might deem illegal, is their legal advice that they are officially not breaking any US laws? They always have said they didnt think they were, correct?

Correct.

I don't have any special insight into Stars' corporate thinking, so my post above is simply my educated guess. This latest move could just as easily be a processor's decision as a Stars' decision.

Still, Stars has always taken the official position that they are breaking no US laws. They have also always said that they will comply with any country's (clear) law on the subject. I have seen official statements by them that they have "5 different lawyer's opinions" that support the claim that their online poker operation is not in violation of US law.

They could add me as a 6th opinion, but so far they haven't.

Skallagrim

Thanks skall, if they were smart they would insta add your services.

I happen to agree, not that it really matters ha