Party Poker to freeze US accounts

**awstick** · 2nd October 2006, 04:58 PM

Not sure if this has been mentioned here before, but Party Poker released a statement that when Bush signs the bill into law, all US accounts will be suspended from real money play. This is terrible news since 90% of my income comes from online poker. Guess I need to move to Canada or the UK now...

Market News

**prizewagon** · 2nd October 2006, 06:46 PM

Not a great time for a lot of folks, that's for sure.

**tennis_balls** · 2nd October 2006, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by awstick

This is terrible news since 90% of my income comes from online poker. Guess I need to move to Canada or the UK now...

even if you did move, I would expect that the games will have a lot fewer fish and prove much tougher to beat.

**paul02085** · 3rd October 2006, 12:20 AM

Originally Posted by tennis_balls

even if you did move, I would expect that the games will have a lot fewer fish and prove much tougher to beat.

This fact is what makes the US bill much more horrible to poker players in other countries than casino players in other countries.

Poker players will lose the whole ocean of fat fish in the US. I think fishing will become very difficult in the upcoming months.

**tennis_balls** · 3rd October 2006, 12:31 AM

of course, every cloud has its silver lining:

PRTY.L: Summary for PARTYGAMING - Yahoo! Finance

sniffle....sniffle Attachment 3883

these donkeys did more to destroy the image of online poker than any ranting far-right wacko ever could.....thank god their TV ads will now vanish here.

**cipher** · 3rd October 2006, 03:22 AM

Originally Posted by tennis_balls

of course, every cloud has its silver lining:

PRTY.L: Summary for PARTYGAMING - Yahoo! Finance

sniffle....sniffle Attachment 3883

these donkeys did more to destroy the image of online poker than any ranting far-right wacko ever could.....thank god their TV ads will now vanish here.

I couldn't agree more.

Have a good one.

**tennis_balls** · 3rd October 2006, 05:34 AM

i have very small amounts at a couple poker rooms so if it continues to look grim I'll probably just hook-up with a non-american poker friend for a "very friendly" heads up match rather than attempt to withdraw.

**ace4suited** · 3rd October 2006, 11:55 AM

Whilst the claim from party (if they stick with it) that when the bill gets enacted they will be freezing US accounts is worrying this is a long time a way and though a week is a long time in politics it is close to a life time in the online gaming world.

The new law in its present form is not penalising players but rather making things harder for them to deal with the money side of things.

Also lets not mince words as the new law has come in it is nothing more than watered down protectionism trying to get certain people a political boost at a particular time.

given the nature of the new law is only dealing with the money side of things I do not see it (without other legislation coming in) actually affecting things much.

There will be ways of getting round the financial issues (neteller was a way of getting round credit cards reluctance to deal with online gaming etc) so there will clearly always be ways round this. Whilst some sites will take attitudes to US players others will not and players will just move to those sites.

Given that there might be a little more hassle in playing online it might cut down the number of players slightly, particularly of the weaker ones but there still should be plenty arround.

The actual situation of whether playing poker online is legal in the US is a bit ambigious but this legislation does not really make much of an impact in clarifying matters.

**Vesuvio** · 3rd October 2006, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by ace4suited

Whilst the claim from party (if they stick with it) that when the bill gets enacted they will be freezing US accounts is worrying this is a long time a way and though a week is a long time in politics it is close to a life time in the online gaming world.

It's not a long time away. Party say they'll suspend accounts when the bill's signed into law by the President, and say that's expected in two weeks: Market News

Transactions might still be possible for 9 months, but most companies aren't going to the take the risk in the meantime. In their prospectus before flotation Party admitted the US government considers their US business illegal, but what's changed now is the likelihood of action being taken against them.

**tennis_balls** · 15th October 2006, 08:56 PM

Originally Posted by tennis_balls

of course, every cloud has its silver lining:

PRTY.L: Summary for PARTYGAMING - Yahoo! Finance

sniffle....sniffle Attachment 3883

these donkeys did more to destroy the image of online poker than any ranting far-right wacko ever could.....thank god their TV ads will now vanish here.

not so fast!

the damm partypoker ads continue to run as they had already purchased the time so the networks are obligated to run the ads.