US officials turn up heat on online poker
Posted by Bev Freeman on 15 Jun 2009 at 15:06
Officials America are to step up moves against online poker gaming in America and are even freezing user accounts.
The Department of Justice has previously been concentrating on sports betting as part of its drive to combat online gaming, but seems to be looking further afield, the Telegraph reports.
According to the paper, sources say that the DoJ has frozen payments of at least $33 million, or £20 million, which would otherwise go to 27,000 players who have been gaming through offshore poker companies, including the likes of pokerstars.com and fulltiltpoker.com.
The DoJ reportedly worked with the US attorney's office for the southern division of New York to get in touch with banks and make them freeze the payments.
Online poker gaming has been something of a grey area for officials in America, but it appears the authorities are now prepared to step up their efforts.
The thousands of people affected by the frozen payments are thought to be from across the US.
US Congress is gearing up to discuss a bill proposed by Congressman Barney Frank which would overturn the ban in America on online gaming, which came into force in 2006.
