Frozen Poker Funds: 2

Spokespeople for each of the banks involved in the seizing of millions of illegal online casino funds are being questioned. The first one to speak up about the matter is the Citibank spokesperson, Stephen Cohen. Cohen belongs to the unit of Citigroup that has received several requests from the prosecutors. He told the New York Times that the policy of Citibank is to comply with any and all policies that the government requires of them. Rebecca Carmichael, who is the spokesperson of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York’s office declined to give any comment when asked about the status of their office. Online casinos have been operating in ‘loophole’ methods for years and it seems like it has finally caught up to some of the internet gambling websites that were not as careful.

The recent events that have been taking pale recently in the court of the Southern District of New York has made their stance clear on online casinos, they will not tolerate illegal online casino activity. The government seems to currently be focusing primarily on the actions of the internet poker community to where as previously they were more focused on illegal internet sports gambling. It is believed that over 24 thousand players are effected by the seizure of funds and the number may be even as high as 27 thousand players. John Pappas, who is the Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance has been a huge advocate in the fight to legalize online poker rooms in the United States. He commented on the Poker Player’s Alliance’s official stance on the topic, "The PPA will pursue every legal course available to ensure that poker players' funds are not seized and their right to play poker online is protected."