The Tuesday after online pokers “Black Friday” had some other big news in the online gaming industry. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission released a statement regarding their feelings on the sweeping indictments made towards four major online poker rooms. The United States Department of Justice seized online domains from Absolute Poker, UB.com, Full Tilt and PokerStars, not only did they seize domains, they arrested several people and charged them with felony crimes that could land the defendants in prison for 50 years.
Absolute Poker is licensed by the KGC, and the licensing jurisdiction wants players to know that they are concerned what will happen to players next, and they want to make sure that no player is affected by the decisions made by the USA DoJ. They also mentioned that they were in talks with Absolute Poker regarding player accounts and will release another statement in the near future.
Kahnawake Gaming Commission has been licensing online gaming operators for over a decade, and is located in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake, just outside of Montreal, Canada. They have recently been noted by huge player watchdog sites as becoming one of the leading licensing bodies available for online gaming.
Another licensing body is speaking out about the indictment as well. The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission made their presence known and plans to handle things as professionally as possible with PokerStars to protect players, and the business model as a whole. PokerStars is still holding the license from the Isle of Man as of today, so their licensing status remains unchanged. Finally, it was also noted that players from the USA with funds in their PokerStars accounts will hopefully be able to withdraw their funds in the near future. As of now PokerStars suspended all cash game play for USA players.