Thanks a lot Bin Laden

The real problem is PS or FTP didn't warn us. I passed half of my bankroll less than 24 hours before the ban. And now because I don't have any withdrawal options in FTP my money is blocked there ( I can cashout from PS with UKASH or bank wire).

It doesn't allow me to transfer between linked FTP and PS accounts either. I mean this is just cruel. How can people trust to online poker anymore if the biggest company do this to it's players. I don't see any laws that changed in one day.

Also please don't write that our money is in safe. Because they are not.

I mailed both PS and FTP to transfer my money from FTP to PS so I can cash out. I told them to give this one chance for people to transfer their money. And then they can do whatever they want. I will post here the answer, if any will be given.

Agreed - I was quite happily playing yesterday and then without warning, wake up to a complete shutdown in Malaysia. Pokerstars has been quite unprofessional about this. Maybe they don't give a feck as they think we are lost customers? Well that's not always the case. I'm heading to Macau at the weekend and if they think their Pokerstars Live room is getting any of my money they can think again. FU Pokerstars.

I know many are thinking today that this had nothing to do with US law, but it was totally because of US law.
And yeah, thanks a lot Bin Laden.

Just a massive joke they didnt give a warning. No government in those countries gives a single ****. Would be no prob to let them running 1month longer and give grinders time to sort a flight, accomodation etc. But yeah, not surprised bc i always expect teh worse from stars anyways after 2010...

Can you tell us which US law Pokerstars is afraid of breaking that led to them letting go of these countries?

is there any way to come up with what % of the playerpool this affects?

what about Germany, Poland and some other european countries, these are also grey markets, are they going to be banned without warning as well?

Does that mean slayeryk that even if you are a "tourist" (your registered pokerstars address is not Egyptian) you can't play in Egypt?

It's indirect, but the events leading to PokerStars becoming a public company were triggered by UIGEA, imo of course.
Public companies are not in the business of providing services to a segment of the population that is minimally profitable at the expense of serving a population that would show massive profit. Capitalism 101.

Basically my belief is that online poker is a microcosm of the world we live in.

Don't panic, I'm sure your money will be fine.

They will add withdrawal options for FT for you or transfer the money back to Stars so you can withdraw from there.

That isn't defending them though. They definitely should have given warning this was going to happen.

PS just can't pull their business out of 29 countries( no matter how small the market is ) and act like it's not a big deal !

Triggered by UIGEA in what way?


What's this new massive profit plan Stars is undertaking that they need to ditch the "minimally profitable" countries?

Stars can only answer.
AYA.TO
Trailing P/E : 110
Forward P/E: 17

I want to buy, but still looks to drop a bit more.

Regulation in the most profitable markets like UK, US, other European countries? Maybe even Canada and some of the bigger Asian countries. Introducing a sports book and casino games to increase inflow of money from these most profitable countries and being able to possibly advertise legally once they are seen as a legitimate tax paying giant company.

Since stars is part of a publicly traded company now, they need to be regulated and that means not doing business with grey markets. I guess they think they can make more money from the big countries they can be regulated in than operating in grew markets and being unable to advertise etc in the bigger countries.

Sucks for everyone who suddenly got kicked out and it is really worrying that Amaya will run Stars into the ground in the same way Party did. Just have to hope they know what they're doing.

No prior warning is ridiculous and especially worrying for everyone living in questionable countries that haven't been banned yet but are still grey markets.

If UIGEA doesn't happen, then DOJ has no law to go after FTP and Stars. Without DOJ action, most likely FTP and Stars continue as was normal prior to BF and Stars execs don't need to make a deal to avoid criminal prosecution.

Are other pokerstars platforms like pokerstars.eu or pokerstars.fr shutdown too in these countries?

Ain't that the truth.

That guy is the gift that keeps on giving.

UIGEA was never listed by the DoJ as the reason for Stars and FTP's bank account seizures, fines and charges because it didn't apply.

I must be totally mis-informed then. Can you explain this to me since obviously you do not agree with anything I have said and believe? Seriously, I want to understand this.

“David McFatchen: Hi. I have a couple of questions. Just on PokerStars, you talk about new verticals, you know what they are, online casino and sportsbook. Then you talk about additional geographies. Outside of the U.S., what additional geographies do you see as potential to expand the business?
Baazov(Amaya CEO): That’s a good question, and David, I’d answer it from two perspectives. I think that the verticals that you mention and we talk about are gaming-specific.
When we look at this company, we look at it as having 86 million consumers, not just gamblers. We look to expand into other verticals that are potentially non-gaming as well; but in terms of geographies outside of the U.S., I’d say that there are geographies that we look at in terms of India as well as some other Latin American countries where we feel there’s going to be significant growth.”


So do we Indians have anything to worry about since we also have a grey market when it comes to online poker but as CEO of amaya is looking at India as a potential to expand the business here I don't see any reason for pokerstars to stop providing services to India so am I right to conclude this?

I just got a mail from FTP .

Hello Ilke,

Thank you for your email.

We are very sorry about the inconvenience this situation has caused you. Our management team regularly reviews our operations along with independent 3rd party professionals to assess the business risks and opportunities for our brands on a market-by-market basis. Following our most recent review, it was determined that we would no longer offer real money games in your country. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope you've enjoyed your experience with Full Tilt and invite you to continue playing with your existing account xxxxxx on our play money site.

I can confirm that we have now debited your Full Tilt balance of $xxxx and credited this amount to your PokerStars account 'xxxxxxxxxxx'.

Please log into the PokerStars cashier where you should now be able to submit a cashout request using one of the available methods.

However, as always, if you would like any further assistance with this or any other matter, please feel free to contact us again.

Regards,

Jorge D.
Full Tilt Payment Services

UIGEA applies to US banks. Stars was busted on bank fraud charges (i.e, getting a vp banker to knowingly violate the UIGEA to facilitate Stars cashouts), and the banker was busted on breaking the UIGEA, conspiracy and more.

grunching thread.

for those from countries that have been shut out, are you able to convert your fpps to cash?

This has nothing to do with UIGEA.

It has everything to do with a company that is looking to 'go legit' and therefore fully adopting anti money laundering measures and severing financial relationships with countries that are subject to international financial sanctions.