BOOM: The Incredible True Story of Online Poker

Um documentário que chega na altura certa. Desde o boom do poker online cavalgando o sonho de Chris Moneymaker até à Black Friday. A história está toda aqui e, se o trailer não frustrar as expectativas, indo para além das evidências e banalidades dos repórteres da televisão "mainstream" mostrando não só a face glamorosa da nossa modalidade, mas também as consequências dramáticas do "crackdown" nos Estados Unidos. O facto deste projecto ter nascido das inquietações de Jay Rosenkrantz (o nick Krantz dispensa apresentações...) e Taylor Caby (membro fundador da Cardrunners) explica a profundidade da abordagem. A não perder.

Estado americano quer penalizar os gigantes do poker online em 3 mil milhões de dólares!!!

O Ministério Público de Manhattan emitiu ordem de congelamento de qualquer transação envolvendo 75 contas bancárias em 14 países (quais serão?). Por acréscimo, foi assumido o objectivo de cobrar à PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker e Absolute Poker cerca de 3 mil milhões de dólares de indemnização pelas suas actividades ilegais.

A grande dúvida que se coloca agora é fácil de enunciar: abalados os gigantes do mercado, quanto tempo vai demorar até que as restantes redes e salas que oferecem poker ao jogadores norte-americanos também sejam bloqueadas e alvo de acusações semelhantes?

Os truques que Pokerstars, Full Tilt e Absolute usaram para contonar a lei americana e fazer circular os seus lucros

(...)
Because U.S. banks and credit card issuers were largely
unwilling to process their payments, the Poker Companies
allegedly used fraudulent methods to circumvent federal law and
trick these institutions into processing payments on their
behalf. For example, defendants ISAI SCHEINBERG and PAUL TATE of
PokerStars, RAYMOND BITAR and NELSON BURTNICK of Full Tilt Poker,
and SCOTT TOM and BRENT BECKLEY of Absolute Poker, arranged for
the money received from U.S. gamblers to be disguised as payments
to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell
merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls. Of the billions of
dollars in payment transactions that the Poker Companies tricked
U.S. banks into processing, approximately one-third or more ofhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
the funds went directly to the Poker Companies as revenue through
the "rake" charged to players on almost every poker hand played
online.
(...)

Comunicado conjunto de acusação do Departamento de Justiça dos Estados Unidos e do "field office" de Nova Iorque do FBI que pode ser lido por aqui. Os 11 detidos estão na mira de acusações que podem implicar períodos de de 5 a 20 e 30 anos de prisão, para além de pesadas multas. Tendo em conta o impacto desta operação, só quem estiver muito desligado da realidade é que pode achar que o encerramento das duas principais salas do mercado a jogadores estado-unidenses não vai ter réplicas à escala global. Será uma questão de tempo e, a partir de agora, as empresas de poker e jogo online em geral voltam a estar na mira da opinião pública, danificando consigo a imagem de quem se dedica a estas actividades.

Terremoto no mundo do poker: o take da Reuters sobre o "crackdown"

11 charged in US crackdown on online poker

By Chris Lefkow (AFP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Eleven people have been charged with bank fraud, money laundering, illegal gambling and other offenses in a crackdown on the three largest online poker companies operating in the United States.

The founders of the companies -- PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker -- were among those charged in the indictment unsealed on Friday by the US attorney for the southern district of New York.

In addition to the charges, restraining orders were issued against 76 bank accounts in 14 countries used by the poker firms and their payment processors.

Five Internet domain names used by the companies to host their games were also seized by the authorities, who filed a complaint seeking $3 billion in money laundering penalties and forfeiture from the poker companies.

"These defendants, knowing full well that their business with US customers and US banks was illegal, tried to stack the deck," FBI assistant director Janice Fedarcyk said in a statement.

"They lied to banks about the true nature of their business," Fedarcyk said. "Then, some of the defendants found banks willing to flout the law for a fee.

"The defendants bet the house that they could continue their scheme, and they lost," she said.

While Internet gambling has been illegal in the United States since 2006, online poker remains a multi-billion industry with companies using a variety of ways to flout the law, including locating their operations offshore.

According to the indictment, the companies arranged for money received from US gamblers to be disguised as payments to non-existent websites purporting to sell merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls.

The indictment said the poker companies tricked US banks into processing billions of dollars but some banks were conspirators in the scheme to bypass US laws that make it illegal to handle gambling proceeds.

Among those arrested was John Campos, the part owner of SunFirst Bank, a small private bank in Saint George, Utah, who agreed to process online poker transactions.

Three of the 11 charged are under arrest in the United States but eight of them are abroad and US authorities are seeking the assistance of Interpol and foreign law enforcement to apprehend them.

Three of the defendants are Canadians. One of them, Isai Scheinberg, 64, the founder of PokerStars, has dual Israeli-Canadian citizenship and lives in the Isle of Man.

All of the others are US citizens. Most of them live outside the United States -- in the Isle of Man, Ireland and Costa Rica.

If convicted, the defendants can face up to five years in prison for illegal Internet gambling, 20 years for money laundering and 30 years for bank and wire fraud.

US law prohibits US financial institutions from knowingly accepting payments for online gambling made through credit cards, electronic funds transfers, and checks.

The US ban on Internet gambling has been challenged as an unfair trade restriction at the World Trade Organization.

Pelas 23h20 de Portugal, e apesar das dificuldades denunciadas em várias partes do mundo em aceder à Pokerstars e à Full Tilt, o Pokerscout atribui a estas salas a presença online de 201.237 e 96.019 jogadores. O abalo sísmico, para já, está a ser suportado. Veremos o que acontecerá nos próximos dias.