According to an exclusive report on Subject:Poker citing unnamed sources, The U.S. Department of Justice is planning on taking action against the Merge Gaming Network. Merge is the largest of the remaining poker networks to have kept serving the U.S. market in the wake of Black Friday. Their business has grown tremendously as a result and it comes as little surprise that the DOJ would turn their attention to the next largest possible violator of UIGEA and banking regulations.
Although details are still hazy as to when and how the action will be applied, the normally reliable and trustworthy Subject:Poker reports that payment processors, indictments and domain seizures are all possibilities for DOJ action.
The sources indicated that the plan was for a mid to late September window, but with the public release of their possible action, that timetable may be moved up.
The issue for players is one of uncertainty because the Merge Network hasn't been forthcoming on whether they fully segregate player funds from operational funds. That leaves the possibility that they commingle player and operational funds as happened with Full Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet, not PokerStars, which led to player funds being seized as well.
If Merge does indeed have their funds segregated, the DOJ action would likely only target Merge operational accounts.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland will take the lead role in the investigation and prosecution. Maryland's office also was responsible for closing down some offshore sportsbooks and confiscation of funds in earlier seizures tied to Bookmaker.com, betED.com and Doylesroom.com. They drew additional headlines for redistributing some of those funds to shared investigative forces.
Although details are still hazy as to when and how the action will be applied, the normally reliable and trustworthy Subject:Poker reports that payment processors, indictments and domain seizures are all possibilities for DOJ action.
The sources indicated that the plan was for a mid to late September window, but with the public release of their possible action, that timetable may be moved up.
The issue for players is one of uncertainty because the Merge Network hasn't been forthcoming on whether they fully segregate player funds from operational funds. That leaves the possibility that they commingle player and operational funds as happened with Full Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet, not PokerStars, which led to player funds being seized as well.
If Merge does indeed have their funds segregated, the DOJ action would likely only target Merge operational accounts.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland will take the lead role in the investigation and prosecution. Maryland's office also was responsible for closing down some offshore sportsbooks and confiscation of funds in earlier seizures tied to Bookmaker.com, betED.com and Doylesroom.com. They drew additional headlines for redistributing some of those funds to shared investigative forces.
