USA Players Wonder About Fate of Online Account Balances

Most of the coverage surrounding Black Friday – the sudden closure of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker in the United States – has centered, understandably, on the fact that these sites are no longer available to American players, and the serious criminal charges being faced by the 11 defendants named in the case.

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However, there’s another story that may have slipped under the radar for the public, but which effects millions of players throughout the United States: what happens to the money that players have in their online poker accounts?

At the moment, players appear to be unable to cash out on these poker sites, but the sites have reassured customers that their money is safe in their accounts – if temporarily inaccessible. Prominent players such as Tom Dwan have seemed to back up this opinion, with Dwan being quoted as saying that he’d value money stored on Full Tilt Poker or PokerStars at 93 cents on the dollar, based on his opinion that players should expect to be able to access their money, but it might not be available for some time. Dwan and others were less optimistic about the future of money currently stored at Absolute Poker, though even there, players and other experts seemed to think that the odds were in the players’ favor in terms of eventually seeing their money again.

For players who have made a living playing online, waiting for their money is a difficult option. While some players may have withdrawn plenty of money into savings accounts to cover their transitions to other sites or live play, many have the majority – or all – of their wealth in their online poker accounts that are now inaccessible.

One major player in this dilemma has yet to speak to the issue: that being the US government. Thus far, the issue of allowing Americans to recover their money from online poker sites has not been addressed by US attorneys. However, with the sites being classified as illegal gambling, it’s likely that returning winnings to players will not be a priority from their point of view.