As the battle for online poker legality comes to the forefront of the American legal system, players are still in limbo making deposits and withdrawals from their favorite sites. Some rooms like Cake Poker have had no reported incidents, while larger ones like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were directly affected by the U.S. Attorney’s Office seizing funds in bank accounts tied to processors. As poker rooms have adjusted, popular deposit methods have now been restored on all sites.
The main issue for many players was that checks received in the mail from payment processors bounced as a result of the bank accounts being frozen. This caused widespread concern that the online poker industry wouldn’t be able to stay afloat if players in the United States were not able to deposit or withdraw. However, the poker rooms stepped up and refunded players, usually with a bonus for their hassle. In the meantime, the sites and processors have scrambled to restore confidence in the industry that players can and will receive payments for cashouts when requested.
On Full Tilt Poker, many players turned to wire transfers and are sticking with this payment method despite the extra fees that are tacked onto the transaction. Many players on online poker forums are reporting their success with traditional wire transfers. Requests have been typically approved the same day and initiated two weeks later. Some people are reporting a lag time of only four days, while others who initiated a bank wire around the middle of June received their transfers during the first week of July. The general rule of thumb is that players should expect anywhere from four to 20 calendar days for a bank transfer to work from approval to receipt. Fees range from $15 to $35 for this type of transaction.
For players on Full Tilt Poker who are not trying the bank wire method, it seems that order has been restored to paper checks and echecks. Players who have requested their checks near the end of June have already been receiving them in July with a seven to 10 day turnaround period from request to receipt. Some of the checks appear to be coming from Canadian banks, well outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Now restored, echecks at PokerStars have been requested regularly in the last couple of weeks from players at the world’s largest poker room. Players who have requested checks have reported receiving them in about a week. Once deposited, they are clearing in major banks in 24 hours’ time.
It seems that the U.S. Attorney’s Office merely set the online poker industry back by a few weeks in terms of normal business practice. Players appear to be sending and receiving funds like they were before the seizure. Checks from major rooms are clearing without incident and high-volume players are using bank wires to safely receive funds directly into their account, accepting the fact that additional fees might apply.
In the meantime, poker industry advocate organizations such as the Poker Player’s Alliance (PPA) and Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) are gearing up to determine if online poker is indeed legal or illegal and if the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is unconstitutional. As the legal battles officially start, Poker News Daily will monitor activities as they occur and report on any changes in the payment processing sector.
