On a day now known among online poker players as “Black Friday,” the Department of Justice did us Americans the favor of saving us from ourselves by shutting down the three most popular and trusted online poker platforms.
While the accusations of bank fraud and money laundering that authorities are asserting against the poker companies are serious, the root cause of their criminal activity (if there is any) is their attempt to circumvent a regulation that is confusing to the point of killing an entire industry. Most online poker companies moved offshore, and while some continued to offer services to American players, most banks and credit-processing companies began blocking any transaction related to any type of online gambling because they could not know for sure which would be considered “unlawful.” The banks in last week’s indictment chose to look the other way while players sent money to online gambling websites and the websites sent money to players. Was there fraud? Possibly. Is there a victim here? Not likely.
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