So what we got overall. PS got rid of some affiliates without any warning, now theyre blocking some countries without any warning, theyre adding a casino online, im missing something else ?

Isn't any proof they cut the affilliates without warning, in fact my understanding is they were given seven days notice.

They are blocking countries in accordance with their own global market policies and if you were in charge of Amaya you would be doing exactly the same thing.

The casino thing is a red herring; gamblers are gonna gamble and I'm sure Full Tilt grinders would prefer gamblers remained in the software to do their gambling in the hopes that winnings may be brought onto the poker tables.

None of this stuff is sensational as you're making it out to be. You're being too dramatic.

Being too dramatic. Yes, I'm a worried about all these weird moves. I think I'll cashout 3/4 of my money outside of PS now given all these events. It's looking shady.

You'd probably sell your house in panic if you found a leaky tap. The rest of us will continue on like normal.

If it comes from someone from UK, i don't give a ****. You're safe there.

I can't stand how people use catch all phrases/arguments like "War on Terror"...

The principle means terrorist use to fund their activities are: drugs, sex slave trade, prostitution, real estate, extortion, kid nappings, blackmail, and rich benefactors working in the oil industry...

I would guess that online poker probably accounts for less than 0.00001% of Terrorist funding and/or Terrorist Money Laundering. My point is simply that trying to link the decision of Stars to pull out of said countries to terrorist funding is a ridiculous argument to make.

Ultimately, all this move does is to hurt faithful customers. I mean, in some of those countries listed, finding employment is a real biatch and grinding 10NL and 25NL enables you to make a decent living. Then all of a sudden, you wake up one day and find out that you've essentially been fired without any notice. And there are hundreds of players out there in those countries that are supporting themselves and their families via poker. And all of a sudden, poof, no more income.

That is not cool at all and I just hate how the big executive wienees forget about all the little people they step on...

If anything, it's little things like online poker that actually help bring the world together. I know, sounds corny but believe it or not, anything that brings us all together as people is a good thing. Anyways, even though the decision doesn't effect me, it does make me sad and I feel for my poker player brothers that have been bent over and rammed in the cornhole without even the courtesy of a warning or lubrication...

You are missing the point completely. Nobody is saying terrorists are making money playing online.
Online poker money transfers circumvent the restrictions regular money transfers have done through banks. Therefore, POTENTIALLY, could be used by the bad guys.

Careful, you're going down the rabbit hole. This word is very dangerous as it can be applied to just about anything that a politician would like to ban when applied to what a terrorist could do "potentially".

And really, you've hit the root of the problem and reason for this thread. OP could "potentially" use stars to funnel money to bad people. Seems like a great reason to prevent him playing a game he loves. /sarcasm
I'm still trying to figure out why I'm prevented also in the US from playing. Am I a terror threat also? This hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Soon UK will be banned.

Aren't the two big parts contradictory?


It is not at all PS/Amaya, who is being ridiculous, but solely the USA. PS does what they have to do, to get into the market of the US of Angst. There are definintely much more important things than the loss of online-poker in said countries to feel sorry for, as a memeber of USA #1....
(I will not engage in a conversation here, since your post I quoted already seems very hypocritical to me, and makes me angry, to some extent... mainly because I am stressed, in the first place, I guess...)

Your estimation of 0.0001% of terrorists money coming over online-poker-sites is likely much too high,... or too low... you have zero knowledge about it, I would guess, so why make assumptions here? Any reader here is on your/our side, anyway.

This is exactly my point. Money transfers from online poker or anything related to online poker accounts for such a miniscule fraction of a fraction of a percent of the so called "bad guys" money laundering and/or other shadiness as to be irrelevant. I would argue that more money reaches the "bad guys" through the sale of girl scout cookies or fraudulent charities than online poker .

Words like "potentially" are the exact kinda words politicians can use to justify there arguments when if you think logically about it and apply actual data and facts you'd see there is no logical link between online poker and the so called bad guys, that is my point.

Well he did point out it was just a guess, although judging by dgi's history of consistently posting the nuts I'd at least say his guesses carry some weight.

Thanks for responding on this. People should be outraged that one politician decided that UIGEA didn't need any debated and should be law. I think most poker players are though.

Brilliant post.

So we all agree that until now, there hasn't been a viable explanation for all of this?

Being from Egypt, I can tell you that there are easier and more discreet ways for 'terrorists' to move money around than on Pokerstars and Full Tilt. How much money can you transfer in truth? I tried to get a friend of mine to send me $135 bucks he owed me on Pokerstars and they blocked our accounts because they thought something fishy was going on.

And why are Vatican City and Belize on this list for instance?

There's another reason for these restrictions and we have yet to figure it out. My guess is that online gambling is probably not legal in these countries and these sites are afraid of the repercussions. Otherwise, it honestly doesn't make any sense.

Your conclusion makes sense, except for the fact they did the shut down so suddenly.

I think the terrorism money laundering is most likely. However ludicrous it may seem to the players involved.

Israel is not on the list so I doubt terrorism is the reason why they banned all those countries.

All this talk of terrorism when all we're really talking about is some guys just like you and me who want to play poker.

I suspect most of you talking about terrorism are from the USA. You'd think that poker players, who know there is little freedom in the USA, would be more astute, and realize when they are being targeted with propaganda so some guys with slick suits and big enough bank balances to fund an election can sell more arms, and dump bombs on people with legitimate, but different, ideologies than yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI

Repercussions from who?? Governments of those countries?? No way! They've got more sht to deal with to even care about something like that! Yea if it was a major thing (online poker) in those countries they'd take action (eg the government here got involved and went after all the ponzi companies when it exploded here) but considering the number of ppl playing online here (and I'm sure it's the same for the other countries in that list since I don't recall seeing a player from some of those countries on my tables even ONCE and I've been playing for years) they might not even know about it!!
Doesn't make sense as the reason either way!
There're other countries where online gambling is illigal in that are not on that list! Take Thailand for example and the number of players there is wayyyy higher than the num of players in the prohibited countries combined!!!

This guy

https://twitter.com/erichollreiser

has already said it was planned, and it was part of their policy to exit from some countries.

The real outrage here should be that they chose to do it, and chose not to give the players any notice.

Yep, this is what I said. It's like they had a stall at the market and they go back to their stall the next morning and construction of a mall is happening at the stall and they have been told that they can't set up shop anywhere else in the country...

I saw some documentary on swedish television that the mafia used the banks in the Vatican for money laundring. So that might be the reason. Whatever the reason I think Stars should have the balls to tell us why.

I must say I was really surprised when I was on holiday in Dubai 4 or 5 years ago that I was able to play on Pokerstars.

The website was blocked, but the client worked fine.

I don't know what the mystery is here.

Amaya will be sued by shareholders if its management negligently expose the company to risks of operating in areas where gambling is illegal and the company is damaged.

And stop this money-laundering nonsense. It is far easier to launder money on Ebay by selling something that doesn't exist than on a poker site.

The fact they haven't made any sort of statement.

And the fact it happen so suddenly with no warning.

They have, just only to the investors.........