Done with Poker for Now

What a ride. I logged onto Paradise Poker and saw the announcement that they would stop deposits from the US and eventually stop real money play:

Unfortunately, on Friday October 13th President Bush is expected to sign into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The legislation is designed to restrict Americans from being able to fund their online poker accounts and in doing so to prevent Americans from participating in one of their national past times. Full details of the legislation can be found on pages 213-234 at the following link: http://www.rules.house.gov/109_2nd/text/hr4954cr/hr49543_portscr.pdf

Paradise Poker, as part of the SportingBet PLC group of companies, is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange and is obligated to act in accordance with the new legislation. After much deliberation, our Legal Team has advised that in order to comply with the new legislation Paradise Poker will be required to stop accepting deposits from all US players. In addition we will no longer be able to offer US players the ability to transfer funds to each other using the ‘Send Money To Player’ function or to transfer funds to Sportsbook.com.

Please be assured that all US customers will continue to be able to access their accounts and submit cashout requests as normal. Although we will no longer be able to accept their additional deposits, to ensure a professional wind-down for our US customers, they will continue to be able to play at our real money tables with the funds they already have on deposit at Paradise until November 13th 2006. The only players that will not be able to continue playing at our real money tables are players located in one of the following states, where some form of online gambling legislation already exists:

• Utah
• Hawaii
• Michigan
• Indiana
• Oregon
• Nevada
• Washington
• Illinois
• Louisiana
• South Dakota

Please note that all players will no longer have access to our casino products or sports betting products. Any Paradise Poker players that have open bets at Sportsbook.com will have the bets cancelled and the funds, along with any other funds held at Sportsbook, transferred back to Paradise Poker. The funds will be transferred back to Paradise Poker within 12 hours.

We very much regret the unfortunate environment in the United States that has prompted us to take these steps. Should there be any positive changes regarding the legal landscape, we will certainly inform players immediately.

For those interested, we recommend visiting http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/ , a group that has been organized to represent the rights and interests of American poker players.

We thank you very much for your patronage over the years and remain hopeful that the day will come when the U.S. will join much of the rest of the world in recognizing the sense behind regulating, rather than the prohibiting online poker.

That prompted me to check around with the other sites where I still had money. I still had $150 on Poker Stars (and it's business as usual for them), but the first $100 of that had to be cashed out through FirePay, and they've changed their policy:

SUBJECT: New FirePay policy for US account holders

On September 30, 2006, the United States Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Once President Bush approves the Act. FirePay (www.firepay.com) will no longer allow US consumer payments for online gambling merchants.

• Beginning the day President Bush signs the Act, FirePay will decline any purchase transactions from US FirePay account holders at any gambling merchant site.
• Ten days after President Bush signs the Act, FirePay will decline any transfer attempt made by any online gambling merchant to a US FirePay account.

All US FirePay accounts holders will continue to be able to make purchases and receive payments from non-gambling, online merchants, as well as “Deposit From” and “Withdraw To” their US bank account.

Click here for the latest news and opportunities for FirePay account holders.

** Please note:

1. This new policy will not affect FirePay account holders from outside of the United States
   
   
2. For any questions regarding these deadlines or policy, please email info@firepay.com

Sincerely,
FirePay
info@firepay.com

So, after s good bit of thought, I decided to withdraw all of my active funds from Poker Stars and Paradise. I haven't decided what I'll do with the Neteller balance, but Firepay sent me my initial $100 deposit less a $10 processing fee (this must be new as well).

As it stands, my balance is $314 which is all winnings. I think I'll give poker a bit of a break and see what happens.

posted by Kent @ 7:03 PM 1 comments