Throughout the entire month of June, 2011, Party Poker will be holding The Big Draw, a raffle-style promotion in which players can win prizes including iPads, television, trips to the Caribbean or Las Vegas…even a Porsche 911 Carrera.
All you have to do to earn your first raffle ticket is play in at least one raked hand at any Party Poker ring game table in June. From there, PartyPoker will give you an additional ticket for each and every player point you earn at the site. And you don’t have to give up the points to claim the tickets either. The raffle tickets are just a bonus on top of the PartyPoker points added to your regular, ongoing tally.
Party Poker will hold drawings every day in June and as long as you earned at least one ticket on that day, you qualify for the drawing. What’s more, all tickets that haven’t yet been drawn are reused in each and every drawing. So if you earn a ticket on June 15th, for example, you’ll be entered in that day’s drawing once with that ticket and once for each ticket you’re still holding from all the previous days of June.
In all, Party Poker is giving away $500,000 in prizes, including weekly mega draws held every Sunday for the biggest of the prizes on the slate: on June 5 the prize will be a VIP Vegas trip for two; on June 12 the prize will be a Caribbean cruise for two; on June 19 the prize will be a Harley Davidson Fatboy Motorcycle and on June 26 the prize will be a Porsche 911 Carrera.
Earlier today they sent out this email message to all account holders.
Since our last email communication where we advised any funds in your QuickTender account could still be used to purchase at QuickTender accepting sites we had been working hard to reinstate our withdrawal facility and ensuring your funds where safe and secure.
However, further developments specifically relating to our main bank processing company have resulted in our accounts being frozen subject to a seizure order giving us no ability to make payments in any currency.
In light of these developments we have had no option but to discontinue the Quicktender service with immediate effect and for the foreseeable future.
At this time we are unable to confirm when or if we could make payments of remaining balances.
We will keep you advised of future relevant developments.
There is a brand new promotion over at 888 Poker, taking place every Sunday from now on, each time offering $100,000 in guaranteed cash prizes.
The concept of the Sunday Challenge is not entirely new to 888 Poker, which until recently hosted a $50,000 challenge every Sunday. The only difference is, as of now, if the face of a growing player base (currently standing at over 8.2 million players), 888Poker has doubled the guaranteed prize pool for that event.
The 888 Poker $100K Sunday Challenge takes place every Sunday at 19:35 GMT for a buy-in of $75 + $5 (the same buy-in, incidentally, as for the event’s predecessor: the $50K Sunday Challenge).
Speaking of doubling prizes, don’t forget 888 Poker’s Double Up array of promotions, from the double-sized deposit bonus to double the number of tournaments, promotions, and bonuses in general.
The EGR (eGaming Review) Awards gave 888 Poker the prize for Socially Responsible Operator of the Year. 888 Poker is listed on the London Stock Exchange, certified by eCOGRA, TRUSTe, McAfee and other leading Internet authorities, and processes hundreds of thousands of financial transactions securely each and every month.
888 Poker is the site that introduced PokerCam tables where you can view your opponents in real time, the 8-cent tournament, where you can win a share of $2,500 up to $1,000 for just $0.08, and win seats into exclusive freeroll tournaments worth thousands of dollars in cash prizes just for playing at 888 Poker on two or more days of any given week.
As of today, Tuesday, May 24th, you will find Bodog at its new home: www.bodog.eu.
You will find that all of your account information and any funds have automatically been transferred, and your account number also remains the same. The website as well as all of the services remain the same too. It’s the same exact site with a new address.
Why the move? The www.bodog.eu address gives the brand a more permanent home as they continue to expand into new markets. Bodog also anticipates the industry will be subject to ongoing fluctuating market conditions and they want to ensure we are prepared to manage them without any interruption to your play.
Merge Gaming issued a statement today which affects players in France and the United States, in short:
1. Players from France will no longer be able to play on any Merge Poker Network site for real money. Their only access will be to the Cashier so they can withdraw their bankroll. This applies to new and existing players.
2. Players from the following US states are now restricted from creating new real money accounts on any Merge Poker Site:
– New York
– Washington
– Maryland
– Missouri
– Louisiana
NOTE: This only applies to new players from these states – existing players are unaffected.
Also, as I am sure you’re aware rakeback will no longer be offered to new players after June 1st, 2011. They will be offering new promotions to replace rakeback, they’re currently in the final stages of planning and we will release information about the new program in the next few days.
Earlier today it was announced that a federal grand jury returned indictments charging two gambling businesses and three defendants with conducting an illegal gambling business and money laundering. The two indictments were returned on April 26, 2011 and unsealed today. As part of the investigation, 11 bank accounts located in Charlotte, North Carolina; Guam; Panama; Malta; Portugal; and the Netherlands; and domain names associated with 10 internet gambling sites were also seized today.
The following internet domain names were seized pursuant to court order:
Anyone who tries to access those web sites will be directed instead to a banner that provides notice that the domain name has been seized by order of the court. The banners are expected to be posted later today.
ThrillX Systems, Ltd., d/b/a BetEd; Darren Wright; and David Parchomchuk, both of British Columbia, Canada are charged in one indictment. K23 Group Financial Services, d/b/a BMX Entertainment; and Ann Marie Puig, age 35, of San Jose, Costa Rica are charged in a second indictment.
The indictments and seizures were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Sparkman of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; Anne Arundel County Police Chief James Teare, Sr.; and Colonel Terrence Sheridan, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.
“It is illegal for internet gambling enterprises to do business in Maryland, regardless of where the website operator is located,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “We cannot allow foreign website operators to flout the law simply because their headquarters are based outside the country.”
“These indictments are the direct result of impressive undercover investigative work by our agents, along with the close collaboration of our law enforcement partners here in Maryland,” said William Winter, Special Agent in Charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Baltimore. “The proceeds from illegal Internet gambling are often used to fuel organized crime and support criminal activity. ICE HSI will work diligently to uncover illicit transactions involving these types of financial crimes. Together, with our law enforcement partners, we will disrupt and dismantle organizations that commit these crimes, regardless of their location, whether here in the United States or abroad.”
“Internet gambling, along with other types of illegal e-commerce, is an area of great interest to IRS Criminal Investigation,” said IRS Special Agent in Charge Rebecca A. Sparkman. “Laundering money from illegal activity such as illegal internet gambling is a crime. Regardless of how the money changes hands – via cash, check, wire transfers or credit cards – and regardless of where the money is stored – in a United States financial institution or an offshore bank – we will trace the funds. IRS Criminal Investigation will vigorously investigate and recommend prosecution against the owners and operators of these illegal enterprises to the fullest extent possible.”
According to the two count indictments and the affidavit filed in support of the seizure warrants, ThrillX, a registered company in British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Vancouver, Canada and San Jose, Costa Rica, is a software solutions provider producing online sports book and casino software. BMX Entertainment, based in Limassol, Cyprus, operates six websites that offer online sports betting services.
The indictments allege that the defendants own and manage illegal gambling businesses involving online sports betting. The affidavit alleges that online gambling sites are run by companies located outside of the U.S., while the majority of customers are in the U.S. Internet gambling operators rely upon the U.S. banking system, and more specifically, money-processing business generally called “payment processors,” to facilitate the movement of funds to and from their customers, the gamblers. Typically, an internet gambling operator directs the payment processor to collect funds from individual gamblers which are used to wager with the gambling organization. Those gambling proceeds are transferred to an offshore foreign bank. The internet gambling operator then sends a check or wire transfer from an offshore bank to the payment processor, directing the payment processor to distribute the money to gamblers for their winnings.
The affidavit filed in support of the seizure warrants alleges that Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore, Maryland opened an undercover payment processor business, called Linwood Payment Solutions. Linwood allowed undercover agents to gain person-to-person contact with top managers of gambling organizations to discuss the Internet gambling business, to negotiate contracts and terms of the processing, and to handle the intricate movement and processing of collection and payment data from the gambling organizations to the banks.
The affidavit alleges that on November 12, 2009, a Maryland-based online gambler and cooperating informant confirmed that he/she frequented gambling sites, opened accounts and gambled in Maryland. The gambler agreed to set up online gambling accounts and was provided $500 to place bets on gambling websites. The gambler created an account on a BetEd website and placed several bets. On March 30, 2010, BetEd used Linwood to wire transfer $100 in winnings to the gambler’s bank account.
Linwood allegedly processed gambling transactions since 2009 for BetEd, K23 and other gambling organizations using banks located in Guam and Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the affidavit, between December 2009 and January 2011, Linwood processed over 300,000 transactions worth more than $33 million, including transactions for individuals in Maryland. Between February 2010 and March 2011 alone, BetEd directed Linwood to wire transfer over $2.5 million of collected gambling proceeds to bank accounts in Panama; and between February 2011 and April 2011, K23 directed Linwood to wire transfer over $91,000 of gambling proceeds to bank accounts in Portugal and Malta.
The indictments and affidavit seek the forfeiture of the bank accounts used to process the gambling transactions, as well as domain names of websites used by the defendants to further the online gambling transactions.
The defendants face a maximum sentence of five years in prison for operating an illegal gambling business and a maximum of 20 years in prison for money laundering. No court appearance has been scheduled.
UPDATE: We have it on good authority that DoylesRoom will continue to cater to US players and may even get their domain name back. We’ll keep you posted.
Bookmaker is already back up and running under a new domains and sent this email out to all players;
As you may already know, Bookmaker has temporarily lost the rights to the Bookmaker.com domain. We are confident that in time, it will be returned to us, until then, we have launched a new, temporary site: bmaker.ag.
Despite having lost the domain, none of the business operations have otherwise been affected. Player account balances and information are safe and secure. Effective immediately, players can log on to bmaker.ag. and it’s business as usual.
You likely won’t notice any other changes at all and will experience all the same features and benefits as our original site; just on a new address.
We sincerely apologize if you were affected by our interruption. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please call our customer service department at 1-866-9Bookmaker.
If you live in the U.S. and you used to play at Full Tilt Poker, before they were forced to shut you out, then you probably got an email from the recently giving an update on their plans and progress returning player funds still held up in FullTilt accounts due to the site’s closure of U.S. operations and freezing of U.S. assets.
On Friday the site issued a statement explaining that all player funds in Tournament Dollars (T$) and tournament tickets have now been converted back into cash in the player’s account. Can the players withdraw that cash yet? is the next question.
And the ansewr is: Not yet.
Full Tilt is converting T$ at a 1:1 ratio, or $1 for every T$1. All unused tournament tickets are being converted back into their full original cash value. Ring game tickets that were unused, either in full or in part, and have expired as of April 15 (“Black Friday” to the online poker community) have been credited as cash for the full value of their remaining unused portion.
Additionally, players’ Iron Man and Black Card statuses will be left as they are, even if the players can’t get back onto the site.
But what Full Tilt is still unable to do is refund any of these monies to players’ hands. That, they say, they’re still working on.
While many players have vociferously expressed their displeasure at Full Tilt Poker’s holdup in getting U.S. player funds refunded, what with Poker Stars having already begun the task, Full Tilt Poker pro Tony G. issued a Tweet requesting players give the site their patience as they are doing the best they can.
Bradley Franzen, one of the 11 people charged last month in the case that shut down U.S. operations for Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, pleaded guilty Monday in Manhattan federal court, admitting he illegally helped link gambling companies with banks to process millions of dollars.
The charges that he pleaded guilty to were: conspiracy to commit bank fraud; accepting funds in connection with illegal gambling; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Franzen said he was contacted in 2009 at his Costa Rica home by an Internet poker company owner who wanted to process checks online. He said he agreed to link online poker companies with banks even though he knew it was illegal.
Bodog Poker is now holding $15,000 worth of freeroll tournaments each month. Players qualify for these freerolls using Bodog Poker Points earned through the regular course of play at Bodog Poker’s cash game and tournament tables. Or you can skip the qualifiers and pay the buy-in, also in Bodog Poker Points of course. Either way, twice per month, Bodog is holding these events, and giving away at $7.5K prize pool at each.
The cheapest way to get in is for 25 Bodog points. That’s the buy-in for the 10:40 pm daily freeroll (weekends included), each of which sends the top 15 players to the $7.5K freeroll final. For 200 Bodog points you can get in the 6:10 pm daily freeroll (weekends also included) from each of which 10 players advance to the $7.5K final.
In between these two buy-ins is an event for 150 Bodog points that takes place all day every day. It’s a Sit & Go, of course, six-handed, each one sending its winner to $7.5K final.
Remember, there are no cash entries into these freerolls and their freeroll qualifiers. To earn more Bodog poker points to use toward entry into any of these events, simply play poker at Bodog’s real money tournament and cash tables. Every time Bodog takes a fee from your tournament buy-in or a rake from your cash game pot, you earn points.
On the 2nd and final Saturday of every month, Bodog Poker will hold the $7.5K Freeroll final at 2:20 pm, with the top 20% of its players splitting the $7.5K prize pool, and the winner receiving $1K.
The Party Poker Monthly Million took a seasonal turn recently for Spring, with an additional Spring Million added to the calendar. Now the site is doing the same for Summer with a special Summer Million tournament coming up on August 7, 2011, with another guaranteed $1 million prize pool.
Leading up to the big million dollar event, Party Poker is raining a spring shower (or maybe a summer storm) of qualifiers down on players, with an abundance of different ways to get in on all the action.
First stage sub qualifiers start out with buy-ins ranging from $1 to $47. These are all speed events, and some are rebuy events as well. The qualifiers into which these events lead have direct buy-ins themselves ranging from $27 to $172. All of these are daily events, with the exception of the $55 MEGA Friday Satellite, awarding 10 seats guaranteed. At all of these qualifiers Party Poker vows to award multiple seats in the $1 million guaranteed Summer Million, based either on the number of players entering or the amount of money in the prize pool.
In addition to all these routes, there are also Daily Country Specific Freerolls with the top 10 from each country or region advancing to the Summer Million Special, and Daily Player Points Qualifiers for buy-ins of 10 PPs and 25 PPs, also which lead into the Summer Million Special, another 10-seat guaranteed event taking place on Fridays.
The Party Poker Summer Million has a $640 direct buy-in and operates with a Championship Blind structure.
Throughout the entire month of June, 2011, Party Poker will be holding The Big Draw, a raffle-style promotion in which players can win prizes including iPads, television, trips to the Caribbean or Las Vegas…even a Porsche 911 Carrera.
As of today, Tuesday, May 24th, you will find Bodog at its new home: www.bodog.eu.
Merge Gaming issued a statement today which affects players in France and the United States, in short:
Earlier today it was announced that a federal grand jury returned indictments charging two gambling businesses and three defendants with conducting an illegal gambling business and money laundering. The two indictments were returned on April 26, 2011 and unsealed today. As part of the investigation, 11 bank accounts located in Charlotte, North Carolina; Guam; Panama; Malta; Portugal; and the Netherlands; and domain names associated with 10 internet gambling sites were also seized today.
Bradley Franzen, one of the 11 people charged last month in the case that shut down U.S. operations for Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, pleaded guilty Monday in Manhattan federal court, admitting he illegally helped link gambling companies with banks to process millions of dollars.
