Are US Poker Players Leaving the Table?

It’s a shame that many poker players in the US will not join a poker table during National Poker Week. Many are not willing to take the chance of having their money seized by the US government after the recent steps of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Account Services, which is the payment processor for Full Tilt and Poker Stars, recently, had $14 million seized by the US government for unlawful internet gambling. Most of the funds were to be used to pay poker players that had recently won or funds directly from the players. This has caused a major problem for the two poker rooms and poker players. The poker players have suffered things such as checks being bounced from the payment processor to their bank accounts actually being closed.

Account Services has filed a motion with a federal judge in California to get the funds back but as we have seen in the past the courts usually rule against online gambling. And one other point to remember the US Government usually does want it wants anyway when it comes to gambling and makes the laws as it goes.
The Poker Players Alliance is hoping to file a motion to participate in the case and help Account Services in the fight. They are reporting that the account here with the seizure is only a part of the overall picture. They are report over $30 million being seized by the US Government recently.

So what are the poker players to do? While poker is probably their favorite past time are they willing to take the chance their funds will be seized and most likely never returned? This creates quit a dilemma and we go into National Poker week.