I've been playing at fulltilt. finally making money doing it.
Is full tilt still aloowing you to play? I an only play in play money games at pokerstars
So far but I'm thinking of cashing out. Read this the goverment can't stop f'ing stuff up.
NEW YORK � The multi-billion-dollar business of the three biggest Internet poker companies became a target of federal authorities before an indictment was unsealed Friday, charging 11 people with bank fraud and illegal gambling.
Prosecutors in Manhattan said they've issued restraining orders against more than 75 bank accounts used by the poker companies, interrupting the illegal flow of billions of dollars.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the defendants "concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits."
The companies, all based overseas, were identified as PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. The indictment sought $3 billion in money laundering penalties and forfeiture from the defendants.
The indictment said the companies ran afoul of the law after the U.S. in October 2006 enacted the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which makes it a crime for gambling businesses to knowingly accept most forms of payment in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling.
Authorities said Absolute Poker responded by saying in a release after the new law was enacted that it would continue its U.S. operations because "the U.S. Congress has no control over" the company's payment transactions.
Efforts to reach the companies for reaction were not immediately successful. Phone calls either went unanswered or messages were not immediately returned. An attempt to look at the website for PokerStars.com was met with a message from the FBI saying the domain name had been seized as part of a criminal probe.
The indictment said the defendants turned to fraudulent methods to trick financial institutions into processing payments on their behalf after the law was passed.
It said they sometimes arranged for money from U.S. gamblers to be disguised as payments to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls.
Prosecutors said about a third or more of the billions of dollars in payment transactions that the poker companies tricked U.S. banks into processing went directly to the poker companies as revenue. They said the money represented the "rake" charged to players on almost every poker hand played online.
Arrests occurred in Las Vegas and Utah.
Frank Fahrenkopf, chief executive of the American Gaming Association, the commercial casino industry's main trade group, said the prosecution shows a "clear need to strengthen laws to address illegal online gambling in the U.S."
He added: "Tough law enforcement is the key to making such a system work, and the AGA supports strong enforcement against illegal online gambling activity in this country. But illegal activity � and the risk of consumer fraud, money laundering and underage gambling � will continue until the U.S. passes laws ensuring that only licensed, taxed and highly regulated companies can operate in the U.S. market."
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said the allegations made by federal prosecutors against the three companies were of "grave concern." But he added that he remained committed to the possibility that federal legislation will eventually permit Internet gambling in a way that matches the same rigorous standards that apply to traditional gaming institutions.
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Garcia reported from Las Vegas.
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