I was reading into this. Will it ever be back? Or Should I move to Canada?
Moxie Pip
Since: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,178
As to when PokerStars will allow US players to play for money again,were it up to Stars (and FT and Absolute) we would never have stopped playing. Given that it is up to the US Government and (in my estimation) the casino industry in this country that wants this market for themselves and want any competitors whom they would be way behind at their launch out of the way I would say the question becomes a little more problematic.My guess---US players will be playing on new,US Government sanctioned,casino run (my bet--Wynn and Harrah's to name 2) sites by the end of the year at the latest. My reasoning for this is that A: We do have an ever-growing deficit problem. The taxes and licensing fees that the US Government could collect form this are not insignificant amounts of money.B: If you're going to try and pass legislation like this,that may royally piss off some "stick in their ass type" Puritans in this country (and Lord knows we got a chitload of them.............) better to do it in a non-election year. By next year they'll have moved on from this and moved on to something else (outlawing dancing,making sure Sharia law doesn't become the law of the land,trying to get on Springer for the 14th time.........who knows?). So the best time for the pols to face the least amount of potential electoral blowback (ALWAYS a huge consideration for them....) would be to get something done ASAP. And you can start taxing away quicker to---so win-win in their eyes.On the downside of my reasoning here is the simple fact that with everything else going on right now our issue isn't exactly a front burner issue with them. Therefore it is incumbent for us to keep the pressure on. Make yourself heard. E-mail/write/call your Congresspersons,both Senatorial and House. E-mail the White House over this. Remember we have a President who purports to being a poker fan and player. Make your appeal personal. Tell him how great a thing is being taken away from us. Many who have a bad perception of on-line poker are clueless about the integrity with which sites like Stars and FT comport themselves as far as their relations with their customers/players goes.If,and I think this is somewhat out on a limb but seeing as we're all just guessing in the dark here I'll throw it out there,we are going to be allowed back on Stars here in the States I think it will be because Stars,as it is currently configured, no longer exists. What I mean is that I could see a settlement to this where the current owner's of the sites in question pay some sort of fine and then sell off their interests in the sites. Stars and Tilt are hugely desirable entities in this industry after all,due to name recognition/branding,current customer/player base and the very make-up of the sites themselves (Stars especially seems leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else for all they have to offer,the more things you can offer potential new customers the more likely you are to receive their patronage.).So I could see a scenario where-in one of the casino's basically buys Stars out and just runs from there. Or FT for that matter. As for any issues of what would be done to allow players outside of the US to play on a site now owned by US interests and under the auspices US law,well I really think that the interested parties are working out that little detail in their heads as well. After all,having a country specific site on a service platform (the internet) that allows you to potentially reach a worldwide clientele is really rather inane. Since they can't "tax" non-US players I would imagine some sort of service "fee" to the site and Government on any cash-outs. Something like that. This isn't in any way to try and impart some sort of "US superiority" thing here at all. I just feel at the end of the day that when something like this goes down you need to think about why it's going down and what the possible outcomes will be. To me this is all about money. So I'm thinking outside of the box maybe,but maybe I'm way "inside" in my reasoning as to me if it's about money,and I think it is,then I have to consider that a very possible end result is that what's left standing is the most potentially profitable business model there is when all the smoke clears. And that's means Stars and FT somehow continuing on as they did before April 15th,as chopping up the market will just be unsatisfactory to all involved in my opinion.Lastly as to when we will be able to cash out in the interim and the conjecture there----I think it's going to take a little while and I'll give you one reason why (though others could be offered I'm sure).Read the articles on the original indictments. It says that roughly 75 bank accounts in 14 countries have been frozen. These are very likely also the same banks Stars was using to pay it's US customers out through,and as those accounts are frozen,I highly doubt that,at least as far as processing checks for US players,Stars has been able to find any other banks to take their business. Anyone want to bet that when this is all settled legally the US Government allows for a 2 week window,for an example, in which any some of the larger banks here in the US can accept monies from Stars,Tilt and Absolute?And e-check options will be opened as well?But again I expect that to be at the end game of all this,once everything else is settled. And who knows,it may come with an announcement that the earlier scenario,or something else of an agreeable nature to we the players,has been reached and we just want to leave our money in anyway.I'm trying to keep a positive frame of mind here as the more I think on this whole situation the more I keep coming back to the one over-arching principle above all-----Given the parties involved in driving this process money will win out. EVERY TIME.And to my mind when you have as successful a businessRead more: Guess when PS will allow US play again. - Page 6 - PokerSchoolOnline Forum http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/forum/showthread.php?33574-Guess-when-PS-will-allow-US-play-again./page6#ixzz27FN9RX6r