NY Authorities Move in on Bettors

In a move that has been described as “very aggressive” by a specialist on gambling law, federal prosecutors for the state of New York have demanded that four US banks freeze payment owed to tens of thousands of online poker players.

The problems started last weekend when echecks issued to players for their winnings by major sites such as Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars started to bounce. Messages on poker boards soon traced the reason to the Feds and it didn’t take long to put two and two together.

The four banks – two smaller city banks, as well as Wells Fargo and Citybank, were told that they would need to freeze funds in the accounts of two groups that process payouts on behalf of the online poker rooms. All in all, it is believed that around 27,000 players will be affected by the freeze of the funds that total over $33 million.

The State of New York has declined to confirm or deny that the banks were told to freeze the funds, according to the New York Times. However, a spokesperson for Citibank, Stephen Cohen, said that the group had, indeed, received a request and that it would most probably comply.

Wells Fargo would only say that its policy was to comply with “valid instructions to seize funds” and would not elaborate on the course of action that the bank would take in this case.

John Pappas, the Chairman of the Poker Players Association, confirmed that he had been told by the online poker groups involved that they would pay their players everything owing to them.

An academic specialist in gambling law, Prof. I Nelson Rose, who is connected with the Whittier Law School in California, said that move was significant in the ongoing war between online poker rooms and the authorities. “It’s very aggressive,” he admitted, “and I think it’s a gamble on the part of the prosecutors.”