Online-poker prosecution irks players

Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

The federal prosecution of three big online-poker sites has angered Ohio players and locked up thousands of dollars of their money on the sites.

In some cases, it’s even life-changing.

Brandon Shane of Columbus has made a living playing poker online since 2008, winning more than $100,000 online since the beginning of 2011 alone, according to rankings compiled by PocketFives.com. Now, he says, he’s “deciding what to do with my life.”

More immediately, Shane has $4,200 locked up in poker-site accounts, making the money inaccessible.

“I have many poker friends across the country and world who have significantly more money that is currently frozen online — as much as $800,000-plus,” he said.

“It appears we’ll be able to retrieve our funds in the future. How long we’ll have to wait and what measures we’ll have to take to receive our money hasn’t been made clear to us, though.”

Problems for online- poker players began in mid-April when federal prosecutors in New York indicted the founders of the three biggest poker websites — PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker — and blocked U.S. gamblers from logging on to the offshore sites, which are accused of bank fraud and money laundering to conceal illegal Internet gambling.

Without access to the sites, gamblers can’t access their online bankrolls that in some cases have allowed them to make comfortable livings.