This story seems to have legs. ABC News has a piece — where they lede with a guy who so far is unable to buy into the WSOP main event. I found this story at the top of the Drudge Report … which means everyone in the mainstream media (who doesn\’t read Pokerati) is also well aware of the situation. (FWIW, the ABC News story ups the number of banks targeted from four to five.)
Feds Order Banks to Freeze Millions in \’LEGAL\’ Online Poker Winnings…
Even the EU is getting involved again, threatening to take the European Commission\’s discrimination claims to the WTO if they can\’t reach a settlement with the US to allow their companies to compete without this sort of harassment from the US Feds. In their view, the recent actions in New York\’s Southern District Court are merely a continuation of the protectionist policies that began three years ago:
\”Internet gambling is a complex and delicate area, and we do not want to dictate how the U.S. should regulate its market. However, the U.S. must respect its WTO obligations,\” said E.U. Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton in a statement.
[…]
\”The report comes to the conclusion that these proceedings are legally unjustified as well as discriminatory, because the activities of E.U. companies took place under the cover of U.S. WTO commitments,\” the Commission said in a statement.
At a minimum, this guarantees that federal authorities (beyond a lone Assistant US Prosecutor) should be taking a real look at how \”American-friendly\” online poker sites process the dollars that transact in peer-to-peer poker games taking place on offshore sites before being shipped to American banks.
