Harrah's: "no impact" of FullTilt, PokerStars asset freeze on WSOP 11/06/2009
Jake Pollard
World Series of Poker (WSOP) organiser Harrah’s has told eGaming Review that the freezing of assets of PokerStars and FullTilt Poker player funds has no impact on the presence of players sponsored by those operators at this year’s WSOP.
Poker players adorned with the dot net logos for the free-play sites of those firms and others including Ultimate Bet and Bodog have been a regular sight at WSOP events for some time, and are resented by operators who don’t take US bets or pulled out of the US market after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in 2006.
Harrah’s said that the asset freeze at US banks such as Citibank and Wells Fargo, reported yesterday on EGRmagazine.com (more), had no “impact on us whatsoever”.
A spokesperson said: “We have no relationship with any US-facing gaming companies. (It is) strictly forbidden by Harrah’s and that has been the case in the US since the UIGEA in 2006. They have no advertising presence at our event and logos that players wear must conform to a strict set of guidelines. Any US facing sites can only display logos on players with their dot net suffix, their play-for-fun entity. You won’t find a logo on anyone but a player, either.”
The spokesman continued that Harrah’s had already adjusted its position following UIGEA. “When UIGEA went into effect, we updated our rules, (and) regulations to be in total compliance with the new laws,” he said. “That is the way Harrah’s always operates. The way we have treated everyone at all times is based on the utmost standard of compliance. That won’t change and nothing that is in the news this week caught us off guard.”
As reported on EGRmagazine.com, Harrah’s recently launched a new subsidiary to handle the WSOP and to explore online gambling in Europe (more).
In other recent WSOP news, PKR signed a deal with Bluff media to be the sole live broadcaster of 24 bracelet events from this year’s event (more).
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Posted: 11/06/2009
Anonymous
When is US going to be allow players! I want to play PKR Poker for real money.
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