PokerTime Drops US Players as of June 1

[Professor]

Lets hope there isnt going to be a slew of these announcements over the next few days

Hi Louis,
Due to legislative changes in the USA as of June 1st, 2010, PokerTime will no longer be accepting bets from US-based players. All players’ balances in excess of $20 will be cashed out on the 31st of May 2010.
We thank you for your support and patronage and look forward to continued success with you in other marketing territories.
Best Wishes,
The Fortune Affiliates Team

[TravG]

Oh wow - I thought they quit accepting US players awhile ago. I stopped promoting them last year??

[Chips]

Looks like a MGS network wide thing. Cool Hand is gone from the US shores on June 1 as well. Have not heard from the Rewards Group as of yet.

From ReferBack's Gareth:

Hi Bruce



Ok so have spoken to the poker room and the standing is as follows :

The situation is that as of 1 June we will no longer be able to accept any bets from US players. (This includes existing players) This is a Microgaming decision, not Cool Hand decision and action was taken as soon as we could in order to get US players to cash-in in time or play through their balances.

As far as other Micro gaming brands go i.e. casino :

Nothing changes as we were never acquiring in the USA , however we are acquiring through our partner Brand Slotastic in the USA , if your traffic is mostly USA then my suggestion would be to go with Slotastic but for your non-USA sites go with our Microgaming brands .

If you have USA players playing on our casino brands , nothing will change except on Poker .

Does this make sense ?

Kind Regards

Gareth

Referback Affiliate Manager

So I would say your inbox is going to get a workout over the next week from your MGS poker brands.

[thepokerkeep]

Oh wow - I thought they quit accepting US players awhile ago. I stopped promoting them last year??

They had stopped accepting US players but existing players were allowed to continue playing.

[universal4]

So I guess that means if players have less than $20 in their accounts they have no problems keeping the money from them??

How is that right?

Rick
Universal4

[Chips]

So I guess that means if players have less than $20 in their accounts they have no problems keeping the money from them??

How is that right?

Rick
Universal4

150% agree. They should offer to move the funds to a US facing brand like some of the other rooms did.

I was fortunate to take my massive $14 bankroll up to 30 something and cash out from Cool Hand, blew all my cash on Pokertime on the slots and still have a tad left on Rewards, might have to checkout video poker and see if I can luck my way up to over $50.

[universal4]

I have actually used a different word at one point and then changed it to keep since I know there are costs associated with cashouts, but still think something could be done....

I mean they are doing this to look good in the eyes of the US, so how does taking money away from US Residents (money that is rightfully theirs) do that?

Rick
Universal4

[Chips]

I agree again Rick and I for one will not forget this when and if they want back in the US market. Hopefully many others will follow the same thought process of me, but I doubt it...

[LuckyLizzy]

Some online gambling sites dropping US players may not be as bad as it seems. It gives us the opportunity to provide those players seeking a new online casino or other gambling site with our affiliate sites still accepting players in the US.

It is extremely unlikely that all online casinos will leave the US market so all we have to do is help the players find new sites to play on.

The only problem I can see with this is that sites that will still accept US players will experience rapid growth and those that pull out of the US will have lost a good amount of their players. I just hope that they don't get swallowed up in the process.

[SR1 Media]

Some online gambling sites dropping US players may not be as bad as it seems. It gives us the opportunity to provide those players seeking a new online casino or other gambling site with our affiliate sites still accepting players in the US.

It is extremely unlikely that all online casinos will leave the US market so all we have to do is help the players find new sites to play on.

The only problem I can see with this is that sites that will still accept US players will experience rapid growth and those that pull out of the US will have lost a good amount of their players. I just hope that they don't get swallowed up in the process.

Extremely good point!

I currently have a large amount of our gaming traffic coming from the US and always see surges when news (or rumors) of a company that is stopping accepting US based players. Even if the player is can still play, most jump ship to seemingly more stable site.

[kingback]

I'm likewise surprised that they were still taking US action - even if it was just in form of letting their old players to play. I doubt that this has major impact on the player numbers of Microgaming poker.