Poker Stars hit hardest by asset freeze; Full Tilt, Cake Poker take up slack
19/06/2009
PokerStars is the poker site hit the hardest by US authorities’ squeeze on payment channels, according to data provided by monitoring site PokerScout.com.
Traffic to PokerStars was down 7% since 1 June, as the effect of the asset freeze by federal prosecutors of US poker player accounts, reported on EGRmagazine.com (more), begins to reveal itself.
The main beneficiaries of the drift of US players away from PokerStars since the start of the month would appear to be Full Tilt and Cake Poker, where traffic was up 3% for both.
Full Tilt was hit by the freeze on echeque accounts of the past couple of weeks, but appeared to have stolen a march on its larger rival by getting its payment options back up and running at short notice by quickly drafting in replacement processors. Traffic at Cereus remained unchanged, indicating it had also managed to establish alternative arrangements.
PokerScout owner Dan Stewart told EGRmagazine.com: “Essentially, it shows that it pays to have back-up options in place, and whoever can recover from a shock like this the fastest stands to benefit.”
Player postings on online forums allege PokerStars have been slow in reacting to the recent US asset freeze and bounced cheques debacle, likely not helped by its much larger player base than those of its competitors.
Stewart said he expected PokerStars’ traffic to recover since it began phasing echeque deposits back in last weekend. “I haven’t seen a recovery yet, but I would expect to see it in the next few weeks,” he said.
Traffic at PartyPoker was up 25% overall since 1 June, but Stewart said this was mostly down to its high-profile Million Dollar Hand promotion. Traffic to Playtech’s iPoker network was up 3% since early June.
As reported on EGRmagazine.com, PartyPoker and 888 continue to be the most visible poker sites to American internet users despite no longer taking US bets, new research has revealed (more).
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Posted: 19/06/2009
User comments
Anonymous
I love it. The US Government has finally wised up to the fact that sites like jokers Stars are sucking out billions of illicit dollars from the economy while contributing squat. Worse still is the fact that the players losing the most are those who can least afford it. That would be those citizens that rely on social assistance and are desperate to win a big prize for a better life. You know, they are the same ones in line at the convenience store spending money they can ill afford buying lottery tickets. And when they run out of money because they have blown their entire months SS check, they head for the food banks and require emergency funds from welfare. Its an easy choice to make. Fraudulent online poker sites take and keep every dollar. At least government run lotteries spend the money earned on things all Americans need.
L. Hills
Just another typical case of US hierocracy! The US government system of isolating their economy is unsustainable and paranoid. They are however, quite happy to bundle up dodgy sub-prime mortgages, sell them in funds to foreign institutions and cripple everyone else though!
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