Confusion over US Poker Players Funds

The recent actions in the US by the FBI and The Department of Justice have thrown many US poker players into a confusing limbo as to where they are going to play and what will happen to the funds they have in their poker room accounts.

Firstly the FBI seized domains of several online poker companies providing US players with online poker gaming in violation of US federal law.

Secondly The Department of Justice issued indictments against eleven individuals on charges of money laundering, bank fraud and illegal gambling money transactions.

Three of those indicted are the founders of three of the biggest online poker sites in the world; PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker that were in violation of US federal laws by offering online poker to US players and accepting money transactions from said players.

In recent reports it was stated that the Department of Justice will return the relevant doc.com domains it has seized from Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars in order to help facilitate the return of funds back to US players.

In a statement the Department of Justice issued it assured that it "will work with the poker companies to facilitate the return of funds to players."

However Full Tilt Poker, one of the online poker operators affected by the recent events, has issued a statement in contradiction of the Department of Justice stance stating that "the government has not agreed to permit any of the seized player funds to be returned to the players."

Full Tilt Poker position suggests that even if the US government is interested in allowing recovery of US players' funds, any resolution in the matter is far from being reached.

Also if the domains will be released and the US will allow funds to be paid back to players, those players will continue to be excluded from playing on these sites.