Keep playing. It will be the most bittersweet heater or least stressful downer you ever had. The guys on the Radio show were talking about doing a last longer, to see who could be the last American standing on FTP. I'd be seriously tempted to flip for rolls if I was on FTP.

were you born stupid? this is the only way they get the financial transactions processed for usa players

Everyone's born stupid I think. It's just that some improve from that point and some don't.

Dear me. The payment processors that these sites were dealing with were some shady folks.


Men named in poker indictment already tied to Las Vegas fraud case

Man accused in nationwide scam lost millions at Las Vegas casinos, officials say

If I understand these two articles correctly, these payment processors are a couple of clowns. Elie apparently directed the poker sites' funds to other investments, and Johnson (not charged in the DOJ crackdowns but involved in another legal skirmish to which Elie is also tied) racked up millions in gambling debts on FTP and in B&M casinos.

Gah. I'm going to bed now. I've had enough fun for one weekend.

Say I run a poker site. I am based in the UK or some place else where such is legal, I pay my taxes, etc. If I allow US players in 49 states (excluding Washington) to play, but require them to pay and be paid only via a wire transfer or the like from a non-US bank account, have I broken any US law? This wouldn be very inconvenient for the US player (as they would have to open an account in a foreign bank and use it to transfer and receive money), but it seems to avoid the UIGEA completely. If the US player transfers money from their US bank to the foreign bank or back again, I doubt that the US bank would inquire why they are doing so. The US player obviously should not tell them, because then the bank wouldn't be legally allowed to process the transaction. The reason the FTP/PS got in trouble was because they lied to US banks about the nature of direct transactions to and from US players (saying they were for purchase of sporting goods and other items) and because they basically purchased a small US bank to process the transactions and have that bank look the other way.

Is there anything wrong with my logic here?

Confirmed. I did not need to uninstall though, so I think you can skip step 1. I still can't play but at least now I can see the lobby and view my account.

The money laundering charge simply means they made money when violating the law. If they do ANYTHING with those funds, and that includes depositing it, transferring it, spending it, moving it, investing it, then they are in violation of the money laundering provision. Money laundering is simply a way for the government to pile on charges, fines and jail time, just like the conspiracy provisions of the law. If the government wants you, they have more than enough tools to get you.

I have a US account, but am currently abroad. I have logged out and back in and can still play.

If I report the income and list "murder for hire" in the work description, will the IRS report me to the cops? What about marijuana sales?

Absolutely not. The IRS is forbidden by federal law to share that information with anyone. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration enforces those privacy provisions. Before TIGFTA, the IRS Inspection Division investigated disclosure of tax information. Congress wants everyone to pay taxes and believe me there are thousands of tax returns filed every year by criminals. If you list drug dealer, gambler, prostitute etc, IRS is forbidden by law to disclose that information to any outside person or agency, including local, state and federal law enforcement.

I'm not sure it's relevant to this discussion, as there's no need to list anything beyond "poker income" on your tax return.

Income is taxable.

I'll bet putting "murderer for hire" on your 1040 will significantly increase your chances of being audited though. Like way more than claiming a home office.

TheEngineer, why are you assuming I'm not really seeking advice wrt to my hitman side business?

How about "murdering tax auditors for hire"?

If you find a dollar on the street and put it in your pocket you are required to report it as "income" by federal law. If you have a garage sale you are required to report any money you make. Of course 99% of people don't and the feds don't go after them. But if the feds decide to go after you, they will look for a chicken **** violation, if they can't get you for something else. As a wise assistant United States Attorney once told me, "Don't **** with the IRS". About the only exception is gifts, which in general you are limited to a set amount from each person. I believe the current cap is $10,000 or less from one individual in a year, is not taxable.

Sure, you can do that. But it's "money laundering" according to federal law and you could be prosecuted for doing it. The odds of that happening are indeed slim but stranger things have happened.

Is there any point to start playing on sites like Cake Poker at the moment? Will depositing on there be a smart idea or not? I'm sure this question has been asked already, but every specified topic on certain situations have been clumped in here.

Does anyone know any websites with particularly small deposit minimums? I'm only depositing the absolute minimum on any other site at the moment and slowly grinding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVk_e31dnlE

The tax deadline is April 18th though...

This is totally wrong. Garage sale proceeds are almost never taxable since 99% of the time you are selling items for less than what you originally paid for them. Even if you sold the items at a profit, then only the gain is taxable.

The cap for gifts is actually $13,000. And it's not from one individual, it's TO one individual. You can give multiple $13,000 gifts each to different people in a year, and it's not taxable. If you gift more than that to someone, the giver is responsible for the tax - the recipient of the gift is not.

Finding a dollar on the street is a silly example, since there's going to be no record of it whatsoever. Someone just dropped a dollar, someone else found it. Who's to say that wasn't "gifted" as well? Finding thousands of dollars is another story, since someone's going to be looking for it. But you could always hide it and spend it very gradually over time, without raising any red flags (unless the bills are marked of course).

But yeah, a lot of things aren't taxable. Cash rebates are another. If you buy a car and they're offering a cash rebate of $1,000 - you just get the $1,000. No tax. There's many more examples. To say gifts are the only exception is spreading misinformation.

No but they are.

Got a check today from FT. I cashed all my money out 2 weeks ago...in 4 different checks.

Of course this check is the smallest. Im assuming that even if the others come, they are all worthless.

Anyone care to comment?

cliffnotes on the whole situation and advices given, please!

It'll bounce.

Can someone from the PPA please provide links to phone call scripts and form letters/emails.

Political organizations from MoveOn.org to the Tea Party also post online petitions for members to sign. Perhaps this is another avenue to start agressively pursuing.

I've only been playing online poker seriously for about four months - I didn't even know it was embroiled in legal issues. So my apologies to the PPA in advance for my ignorance in the following..

Has the PPA sought help from the likes of someone in MoveOn.org, TeaParty, or a similar organization that can help develop a campaign to provide PPA members and the rest of us with the amunition we need to send rational, impactful, and consistent messages to Washington. Does the PPA have such a person(s) already? If not, perhaps post a plea in here for some contacts or volunteers from MoveOn or similar organizations that may be willing to help us?

I don't know how much bi-partisan support we have or even if groups like MoveOn.org, Tea Party, etc. would respond to a request from PPA for their support and help with pushing our issue out to their members, but it's probably worth a try.

Please don't flame me or start a political rant regarding the various groups I've mentioned - it's just a suggestion with good intentions - instead of ranting, think of and suggest groups that you think would help us.