U.S. authorities on Wednesday said they had unfrozen the domain names of two online poker companies subject to a crackdown on internet gambling, allowing U.S. players to withdraw money.
Last week, domain names of FokkerStars, Fultilt Fokker and Absolute Fokker, the three largest online poker companies operating in the U.S., were seized, and 11 people, including the site’s founder, were charged with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said on Wednesday that the pokerstars.com and fulltiltpoker.com domain names were being restored, and the site could refund money deposited by U.S. players.
“The government will enter into the same agreement as Absolute Fokker,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement. 메이저 토토사이트
“The office expects the money entrusted by American players to be returned by the companies, and we will work with poker companies to return the funds to the players,” the office said.
The two companies said they agreed to offer online poker free of charge to players outside the U.S. but not to offer gambling with “real money” to players located in the U.S.
While internet gambling has been illegal in the U.S. since 2006, online poker remains a multibillion-dollar industry, and companies are using various methods to break the law, including finding their business abroad.
U.S. law prohibits U.S. financial institutions from knowingly accepting payments for online gambling made through credit cards, electronic money transfers and checks.
The U.S. ban on internet gambling has been challenged by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) restrictions on unfair trade and some U.S. lawmakers are pushing to legalize online gambling.