Poker players have flocked to lesser-known poker sites.

"Black Friday"(from the English Black Friday) - this is the name given to the date April 15, 2011 in poker circles. It was on this day that the websites of the four largest poker rooms (PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UniBet Poker) were blocked by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The main reason for such a drastic and massive intervention of the FBI in poker matters and, as a consequence of “Black Friday” for the entire poker community, was the fact that the above poker rooms allowed players from the USA to play at their tables, regardless of the law UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act).

UIGEA was developed and submitted to the US Congress back in October 2006. Its essence is to prohibit banks and other FROs (financial settlement organizations) from accepting accounts of American players in online casinos and online poker rooms for servicing. Due to the fact that the bill had many opponents, it will only come into force on June 1, 2010.

Having collected enough information against PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UniBet Poker, the FBI blocked the websites of these poker rooms and also issued arrest warrants for 11 people holding senior positions in them. Among other things, about 70 bank accounts belonging to poker rooms and companies that illegally (bypassing the UIGEA) served American players online were blocked.

Charges were filed for a number of violations: money laundering, illegal payment processing, bribery, deception of authorities. On April 15, 2011, a massive “fever” began among all poker sites, as well as players. Players feared for the safety of deposits and winnings in their accounts. The affected poker rooms were overwhelmed by massive cashouts from poker players, and were forced to reduce the guaranteed prize pools in their regular tournaments. European poker rooms, on the contrary, did everything in their power to attract new players - they increased the guaranteed prize pools of their regular tournaments, offered reload bonuses, increased first deposit bonuses, held exclusive rake races, etc.

Black Friday radically changed the attitude of not only American, but also European poker players to “look” at less popular poker sites and poker networks. While Absolute Poker, UB.com, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars are trying to recover from the shock, smaller online poker rooms have been quite successful in increasing their traffic.

Poker rooms of the Merge network still accept players from the USA and the growth in their traffic is simply impressive. The US Department of Justice met poker players halfway and demanded that poker rooms pay out the funds stored in their accounts. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars graciously accepted this offer. As for the Cereus network, which included the Absolute Poker and UB.com poker rooms, their management, after weighing all the pros and cons, decided to begin bankruptcy proceedings.

Americans can no longer play on any of these sites that were previously considered the best in the industry. The result of “Black Friday activity” was the closure of a number of payment operators. This made matters even worse for American players: they were left with very few options for depositing/withdrawing funds. The same problem to some extent affected many European players.

Traveling through the pages of poker history, one cannot help but stop at the event that was called “Black Friday”. It is safe to say that every poker player who has traveled through thematic resources dedicated to poker is certainly familiar with this, of course, sad event.

Briefly about what happened - in 2011, namely on April 15, the websites of the largest poker rooms, namely Absolute Poker, UltimateBet, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were blocked by US law enforcement. Poker operators were loudly accused of creating a financial pyramid that harmed millions of resource users. The total amount of damage caused was estimated at hundreds of millions of US dollars. The question arises - what was the reason for such an unexpected decision and whether there was actually a violation of US laws.

Is it all FullTiltPoker's fault?

The history of FullTiltPoker is simply amazing - this room quickly burst into the gambling industry. The room was launched only in 2004, but subsequently it quickly gained popularity among poker players all over the globe. The project was launched by well-known poker pros of their time - Raphael Furst and Chris Ferguson, who were joined by Raymond Bitar. The company's management immediately set a course to attract famous players to its team of professionals. As planned, the high authority of poker pros and their fame will attract a real abundance of traffic to FullTilt.

The idea was fully justified - FullTiltPoker is rapidly gaining a leading position in the poker industry, providing powerful competition to the market “shark” - PokerStars. FullTilt operated primarily in the United States, where the turnover of three companies - Absolute Poker, FullTiltPoker and Red Peaks - was estimated at $6 billion a year.

Crossing the line of the law

From the very beginning, lawyers noted the dubiousness of the activities of rooms on American territory - for example, the activities of online operators were subject to the ban of the notorious “Wire Act”, dated 1961, which prohibits any bets placed by clients using electronic and communication networks. De jure, the ban also applies to online poker.

The legislator, seeing the rapidly growing sector of gambling services, begins proceedings - for example, in 2006, the American Congress adopted the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act”. According to this law, it is prohibited to make any payments to gambling companies in the United States. However, playing poker is not prohibited.

The American authorities made the main blow on the financial component - it is prohibited to replenish players’ accounts and withdraw funds. It is also prohibited to directly operate payment systems with poker rooms.

The adopted document translates as the “Illegal Internet Gambling Act”; it actually came into force in 2010, which, in fact, encouraged many companies to leave the United States market. However, the most popular rooms, including FullTiltPoker and PokerStars, having adjusted their work, continue to serve players by making payments through Europe.

The American authorities did not stop there and made every effort to prohibit financial payments in favor of rooms in a number of countries. FullTiltPoker, in turn, changes its circle of partners and begins to cooperate with the company "Intabill Inc", whose owner was Russian Daniil Tsvetkov.

"Snout into a cannon"

It was impossible to call the payments being made absolutely legal - the company worked according to a “gray” scheme. The first problems began in 2008, when Intabill Inc began processing transactions with a very noticeable delay. Players, not appreciating such news, begin to leave the room, and FullTiltPoker loses its reputation.

The owners of FullTiltPoker are suing the transaction company for $45 million, but despite winning the case, only a small portion of the money was recovered due to the bankruptcy of Intabill Inc. Ultimately, the room loses a partner through whom large payments can be made stably and constantly.

The beginning of the end - the fatal decision of the room administration

Having survived such a serious blow, the administration of FullTiltPoker, in search of a way out, turns to Sun First Bank, which is located in Utah. The bank is going through hard times and gladly accepts poker's offer of cooperation.

It became possible to make payments thanks to a loophole in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, but in 2010 the legislator improved this law, eliminating a convenient loophole. FullTiltPoker has been dealt a crushing blow; in fact, the room has been deprived of the right to legally operate in the United States. According to analysts, after the adoption of this law, FullTiltPoker has become a bubble that will burst in a matter of weeks.

Chaotically trying to do at least something to save the sinking ship, the leading poker rooms Fulltiltpoker, PokerStars, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker are going all out and running openly fraudulent schemes that allow them to process payments. The payment of winnings, as well as the replenishment of the account, was done in the form of purchasing goods in a non-existent online store. In order to resolve issues that regularly arise from regulators, the rooms did not skimp on bribes. It is reliably known about a certain John Campos, who received a bribe of 20 thousand US dollars for violations in financial reporting.

Black Friday – authorities strike back

The poker world, we can say with confidence, changed irrevocably on April 15, 2011 - the sites Fulltiltpoker, PokerStars, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker were blocked in the United States, and their managements were accused of fraud. In addition to blocking websites, the FBI is freezing 75 bank accounts in various countries around the world, through which payments to poker players were actually made.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York represented the prosecutor. According to procedural documents, poker room operators systematically and grossly violated the adopted “Act on Illegal Internet Gambling” by using the services of credit institutions. There are 11 people accused, including people from the top management of the rooms, including Raymond Bitar, as well as Isai Sheinberg. The legal proceedings were complicated by the fact that most of the defendants in this high-profile case live in other countries and cannot be extradited to the United States.

Counting losses

Many people came to the defense of the rooms, but one cannot help but admit that there really were violations. The charges brought, the blocking of sites in the United States, as well as very serious fines hit the rooms hard, and “Red Peaks” managed to get out of the situation with minimal losses. Access to the site was returned in full after 5 days, and the administration of the room announced that it would return all the money on deposits. Not even two weeks have passed, and already on April 28 the room pays money to American clients. As of May 13, 2011, over $100 million had been paid out.

The scandal did not end so rosy for the once famous rooms Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker - they suffered a crushing collapse after a blow from US legislators. On May 4th, companies cease their operations in the United States, and on May 6th, payments to customers around the globe cease. On May 11, the room owners declared bankruptcy. Brent Beckley, who founded the Absolute Poker room, admits his guilt and becomes a defendant in a criminal case, cooperating with the investigation.

Although three companies (with the exception of FullTiltPoker) faced serious charges, which two of them failed to cope with, their cases are fundamentally different from FullTiltPoker, which began operating as a pyramid scheme.

The scandal surrounding FullTiltPoker is a financial pyramid of planetary proportions

FullTiltPoker's fraud has reached truly serious proportions - unlike other companies, the management of this room deliberately deceived clients, using visitors' money in their own interests. Thus, if each client of the order had paid funds from his account during that period, Full Tilt would not have been able to fulfill its obligations.

In total, since 2007, FullTiltPoker management has fraudulently obtained a dizzying amount of $440 million. The money was divided among the company's executives, of which Chris Ferguson received $24 million, and Howard Lederer received $38 million. In total, the amount was divided among 29 people.

Chronology of events

On the day the site of the rooms in the United States was blocked, FullTiltPoker had over $60 million in its accounts, with a total liability to players of $350 million. Thus, ordinary players could not get their money and FullTilt was rapidly heading towards collapse, shrouded in the smoke of a growing scandal.

ARJEL, the French regulatory authority, revokes the poker room's license, followed by the AGCC, which invalidates all of the room's licenses. The accounts of the company's top management were seized and all known assets were frozen.

Incredible scope of impudence

After the details of the deception were revealed, the story with Full Tilt Poker becomes a real shock not only for the room’s clients, but also for the entire poker community. Ray Bitar, who holds the post of director of the company, makes an official apology to clients only on March 6 next year, and this makes the deceived clients even more angry.

Note that American players who lost their money in Full Tilt Poker accounts received their first payments only on April 27, 2014. De facto, the company's management used this money as an interest-free loan for almost three years. However, despite the crushing blow to its reputation, FullTiltPoker continued to exist for some time, having been bought out by PokerStars. Not long ago, the brand ceased to exist, having completely entered the “red peaks”.

Sad results

If the main thing for a person is honor, then for a legal entity the main value is its reputation. Reputation is built up over many years, and it is very easy to lose it. The fraudulent activities of FullTiltPoker led to the fact that several tens of thousands of clients lost their money, which they began to return after 3 years.

Last Gasps FullTiltPoker

The company began its activities in 2004, quickly conquering ordinary players and climbing to top positions among its competitors. Before Black Friday, FullTiltPoker, we note, was the leader in the number of poker stars playing here.

At one time, the following players played in this room: Allen Cunningham, Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey and Jennifer Harman, as well as other professional players. In 2012, the company was bought by its closest competitor, PokerStars, which decided to retain the entire staff of the room. However, even the active promotion of the brand did not allow it to take its previous positions, and until the moment of liquidation it occupied an outsider position.

Australian payment operator that became the key for US authorities to pursue the top three online poker rooms V "Black Friday", can become the main trump card for the prosecution, acting as a witness in the trial against two defendants in a high-profile case. April 9 Dan Tsvetkov, the former owner of Intabill will appear in a New York court in the trial against Chad Alley and John Campos.

Ely and Campos are charged with three counts of violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 ( UIGEA), money laundering and participation in the organization of illegal gambling business. They are also accused of fraud to deceive banks.

Federal charges against defendants in the case black friday " will remain in effect. Manhattan District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the motion to dismiss the case.

The petition was filed by John Campos, former Vice President Utah bank who received sums of money from online poker sites in exchange for conducting transactions related to online poker and Chad Alley, a payment processor who also facilitated the flow of funds between American players and offshore sites.

« The argument that poker is not a game of chance has been found untenable" Kaplan concluded in the eight-page memo.

Ira Rubin , one of 11 indicted by the US Department of Justice in the case " black friday» pleaded guilty to conspiracy. His sentence will be announced on May 17.

Rubin admitted that he worked with online poker rooms and Full Tilt Poker as a payment processor. He explained that money transfers for gambling sites were made as fictitious payments for non-existent goods. Thus, banks did not understand the true purpose of these payments and could not prevent them. This criminal scheme operated from 2006 until April 2011.

In July 2011 Ruby offered $300,000 bail and permission to live with his parents in Florida, but Judge James Colt denied Rubin bail on " a number of reasons", including the risk of leaving the country.

Holder of the prestigious title " online player of the year "According to the magazine Card Player became Jason" jdpc27 » Wheeler. Over the past year, he has earned 8,076 OPOY points and $768,877 playing online.

However " black Friday" could very well end the career of a brilliant pro, who had to move to Mexico to continue playing online.

US Department of Justice responded to a series of complaints John Campos And Chad Eli involved in the case of "Black Friday". Both allegedly petitioned to have all charges against them dropped, but the Department denies that such a fact occurred.

The US Department of Justice sent a detailed response to the petition of Chad Ely and John Campos, two of the 11 defendants in the case. black friday».

Both defendants were arrested in the morning "Black Friday" for their participation in an illegal payment scheme with the help of a Utah banker, but were later released on bail.

Chad Ely And John Campos , two of only 11 people indicted by the US Department of Justice on April 15, 2011, decided to fight the charges in court, demanding that all charges be dropped.

One of the defendants, Chad Ely, is an executive at a payment processing organization who was indicted in connection with the Justice Department's investigation into PokerStars.

Having worked properly in poker rooms PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, the Department of Justice charged Eli with four counts of violating the UIGEA, three counts of operating an illegal gambling business, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Online poker room Full Tilt Poker issued a statement that was exclusively posted on the renowned poker news site PokerNews.com. These events were preceded by a promise from the management of the poker room to make the entire situation around its affairs as transparent as possible. Black Friday.”

Main Event Winner WSOP 1998 Scotty Nguyen and recent 2011 PCA fourth-place winner Sam Stein shared their views on the future of poker in the United States in an interview with CardPlayer Magazine.

Nguyen, who was interviewed during the $1,000 Buy-In Event at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, stated that after " black friday “Poker has a chance to return to the old days, when you could quickly and easily find a good game in real casinos.

Last Friday, the FBI indicted the largest poker companies - Full Tilt, PokerStars and Absolute Poker\UB - for fraud, illegal Internet gambling, violation of the UIGEA and money laundering.

76 bank accounts belonging to these companies were frozen.

The FBI has issued arrest warrants for Isaiah Schonberg (founder of Pokerstars), Raymond Bitar (owner of Full Tilt), Scott Tom (owner of UB), as well as eight other key figures from the above-mentioned rooms.

Most of the defendants are US citizens, but live outside the country (with the exception of John Kemos and Chad Ely, they have already been arrested). In this regard, the FBI sent a request to Interpol to assist in finding the remaining suspects.

The above-mentioned individuals have been charged, some of which carry multimillion-dollar fines, as well as prison sentences of up to 30 years.

Scott Tom (the owner of UB) is charged only with violating the UIGEA, in the worst case scenario he faces five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. It is worth noting that, despite statements from representatives of the poker room, Tom did not resign from his post after the scandal with the super- user.

Attendance at Full Tilt and PokerStars, which have already blocked access to their resources for US users, has dropped significantly. Compared to last weekend, PokerStars traffic is down 18 percent, Full Tilt is down forty percent, and Absolute Poker\UB, which still accepts US users, although it doesn't allow them to make a deposit or cash out, is down twenty. .

Meanwhile, Bodog's traffic was up 21%, Merge Gaming Network's traffic was up 13%, iPoker's was up 10%, PartyPoker's was up 6%, and Ongame's was up 3%. Despite the fact that Full Tilt and PokerStars no longer have American clients, these poker rooms are still industry leaders.

Pokerstars and Full Tilt reached out to their non-US customers and assured them that there was no reason to worry - non-American money was completely safe. “For all customers outside the US, everything remains the same.”

Absolute Poker\UB has not yet received such statements.

Daniel Tsvetkov, the founder of Intabill, a payment system whose actions once harmed a large number of Pokerstars and Full Tilt clients, may be to blame for all the latest misadventures in online poker.

Last year, when Tsvetkov, for an unknown reason, flew to the United States from Australia, he was detained and placed in custody; a little later, Tsvetkov, who was facing a seventy-five-year prison sentence, was released on bail. He is currently in New York; the police have not disclosed his whereabouts.

It is possible that Daniel, who has worked with the largest poker rooms for a long time, and is now accused of fraud and money laundering in the amount of $543M, made a deal with justice and provided the FBI with information about the schemes that Pokerstars and FTP used to circumvent the UIGEA.

Due to recent events, the Onyx Cup, a super high roller series sponsored by Full Tilt, has been canceled.

The same fate will most likely befall the NAPT, a series of tournaments held in the United States with the support of PokerStars.

The broadcast of the last stage of the NAPT, which was supposed to air on ESPN, was cancelled. Due to recent events, the Inside Deal TV program, sponsored by Pokerstars, also disappeared from the channel’s broadcast program.

Steve Wynn, owner of the Wynn casino and hotel chain, a big poker fan who recently formed an alliance with the largest poker room in the world to begin the fight for the legalization of online poker in the United States, announced the severance of relations with Pokerstars.

American players found themselves cut off from online poker. Currently, they can only wait for the legalization of online poker in the United States. When this does happen, the likelihood that Pokerstars and Full Tilt will be welcomed there with open arms is quite low.

In the USA, the FBI blocked the websites of the largest rooms and filed a lawsuit Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, UB and AP Poker.

Representatives of poker rooms PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB and AP Poker was indicted by the FBI last night on charges of fraud and illegal online gambling.

PokerStars have already stopped customer service throughout the US and published the following message:

“As you heard, we were forced to close access to real money gaming for all US citizens. This decision is due to the initiation of criminal cases against our company in this country. This situation concerns exclusively the American market and will not in any way affect your ability to use our services in the future.

Rest assured that players' accounts are completely safe. There is no reason to worry. For all users outside the US, everything remains the same.

The PokerStars website has moved to the pokerstars.eu platform, and the address of our support team has also changed - We apologize to our players for this inconvenience.

We receive a huge number of letters from users, so we ask you to understand that replies to letters may arrive with some delay. We answer all emails as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding of the situation."

Full Tilt supports poker players and its CEO

Dublin, Ireland (April 15, 2011) – Full Tilt is saddened by today's allegations against its CEO Raymond Bitar and expresses its support to Mr. Bitar and Nelson Burtnik.

Online poker is a skill-based game that is loved by millions of people in the United States and around the world. Full Tilt Poker continues to believe that players should have the right to play their favorite game online.

Mr. Bitar and Full Tilt Poker believe that online poker is legal, a view shared by many of America's best legal minds. FTP has been and remains committed to the principles of fair play and compliance with the law.

“I am surprised and disappointed by the government's decision to bring these charges against us. I expect that both me and Mr. Burtnik will be fully acquitted,” Bitar said.

Unfortunately, as a result of these actions, Full Tilt Poker has decided to suspend cash play in the United States until this situation is resolved. However, FTP will continue to provide its online poker services outside the United States.

As we wrote yesterday, the US Department of Justice released an indictment containing 11 defendants. Here they are:

It is assumed that all companies have "laundered" at least $3 billion. According to the indictment, Campos and Elie were arrested Friday morning in Utah and Las Vegas. Franzen is due to appear indictment on April 19, 2011. Other - Scheinberg, Bitar, Burtnick, Tate, Tom, Beckley, Rubin, and Lang are not in the United States and have not yet been arrested.

Found a source of information?

businesinsider.com reports that information was provided to US courts by a former employee PokerStars And Full Tilt Poker. Daniel Tsvetkoff has been involved in the past with the financial services of these poker rooms. Despite his high income, he stole additional amounts from the rooms.

Both poker rooms tried to recover the amounts stolen by him through the courts, but they failed. As a result, the rooms decided to extradite Tsvetkoff to American authorities after he arrived in the USA. He was charged with approximately the same charges as the room managers.

According to reports, Tsvetkoff has decided to reach an agreement with the US justice system to reduce his sentence. Using his insider information, he helped the FBI create charges against poker rooms.

A few weeks ago, an influential casino chain Wynn Resorts announced its intention to fight for regulation of American online poker together with PokerStars. Today this network has officially ceased cooperation with PokerStars.

Tom Dwan writes on his Twitter: “I’m not too worried about my money on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. But with other rooms it’s worse. I give 85-90% that American users will return to the online poker market. 99, 93% - that all Americans will have the opportunity to withdraw money."

He expressed his opinion and Max Katz: ""The main question is whether the largest rooms will cope with the wave of cashouts in the coming hours and days. If they don’t cope, today is the end of online poker. If they cope, it will all be in a different form and with other main players, but they can survive. Available money from the rooms will run out very quickly. Usually no one keeps reserves of available cash in case everyone, or a significant number of users, request cashouts at once. Some small rooms in general often sinned by spending 50%-90% of money on marketing, based on the fact that There cannot be a rapid outflow of users, leaving only a small part of the deposits quickly available, backed by money. The question is whether the large rooms acted as well."

Meanwhile, Eric Lindgren doesn't seem to take things seriously: "It's all Daniel Negreanu's fault! I told you that if he started winning at online poker, the world would end."
According to the site PokerScout, which tracks the traffic of all poker rooms, attendance Full Tilt Poker decreased by 16%, despite the fact that Americans are still allowed to gamble there for money. Attendance PokerStars, where US residents are currently banned from gaming tables, fell by 26%. Net Cereus(which includes UB and Absolute Poker) lost 23% of its users. At the same time, attendance PartyPoker grew by 4%, and networks iPoker- on 10%. The data is compared to last Friday.

PartyGaming share prices have already increased by 11.17% today.

Updates:

PokerStars has reduced guarantees for major tournaments:

Onyx Cup is cancelled.

Previously announced offline tournament for super high rollers with buy-in $100,000 Onyx Cup will most likely be cancelled. In any case, its first two stages, which were supposed to take place in Las Vegas in May and July.

PokerStars, in turn, assures its users that offline series ERT And R.P.S. nothing is in danger. Unlike the North American Poker Series, whose future is now in question.

According to website statistics PokerScout, at the moment the greatest losses (up to 40 percent) in terms of the number of users are borne by Full Tilt, a significant part of whose clients are located within the United States. Eg, PokerStars missing a fifth of clients.

They got down to business and ESPN. They deleted they stopped cooperating with PokerStars and removed them from their site. There was no official statement. The PokerStars-sponsored ESPN poker club has also been removed from the site - it cannot be submitted.

Message from Joe Pappas

Director Poker Player Alliance Joe Pappas On the organization’s website, he published a video appeal on behalf of the world’s largest union of poker players.

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