Big freeze could be good news for Party and others; Isle of Man monitoring the situation  10/06/2009

Jake Pollard

The asset freeze of around US$33m of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker player funds by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York could be good news to PartyPoker and networks such as Playtech if it is part of a wider crackdown, according to Deutsche Bank.

It is unclear whether the move by the US authorities, reported on EGRmagazine.com (more), signals the start of a wider crackdown on poker sites still taking US bets nearly three years after the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act. A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York told EGRmagazine.com: “It is the policy of the office the Southern District of New York to neither deny or confirm the existence of ongoing investigations.”

However Deutsche said it expected non-US players, many of them high rollers chasing the US sites’ high liquidity, to migrate away from the likes of PokerStars as they fear their funds and bankroll will not be recovered. 

Although the sum of US$33m is not considered material and PokerStars and Full Tilt are thought to have much higher player deposits than PartyPoker’s US$130m, “player trust is critical and you don't need to freeze all player funds in order to have a material impact on confidence and liquidity.

Even if this doesn't lead to a full crackdown, anything which affects the players' confidence in the US-facing sites is a clear positive for the listed online poker operators in our view”, the bank said.

As reported on EGRmagazine.com, new research this week revealed that PartyPoker and 888 continue to be the most visible poker sites to American internet users despite their no longer taking US bets (more).

Shares of PartyGaming and 888 were up 5.75% or 13.75p to 252.75p and 5% or 5.5p to 114.5p respectively at the time of writing.    

Meanwhile, Garth Kimber, head of egaming at the Isle of Man where PokerStars is licensed, told EGRmagazine.com: “The Gambling Supervision Commission of the Isle of Man is aware of the situation and is looking into it.”
 

   
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Posted: 10/06/2009