Brand new year and another gambling network leaves the US industry. This time it is the Everleaf Gambling Network. The problem is they received a cease and desist letter from the Department of Homeland Security. They asked for and received advice from the Lottery and Gaming Authority of Malta (LGA), who suggested that because of the nature of the threat and the current climate, they should withdraw from the US industry immediately.

The interesting thing here is that their domains and cash weren’t seized like others in the past. They received a letter and on advice of their regulator they left the industry. If the Department of Homeland Security can just send a cease and desist letter and the networks leave the market place, then online poker for US players is over. The understanding most poker players have is playing poker online is perfectly legal and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, only restricts banking institutions from handling funds back and forth from these US poker sites..

The problem is why did the Everleaf Gambling Network receive the letter. Were they doing something wrong or were they in violation in someway?? That remains yet to be uncovered, but we do know one of several processors they as well as other poker networks used were seized by the government some time ago. Quite a few players on the Everleaf Network were talking about slow payouts for a long time. Their withdrawal and deposit options were very limited for players in the US. In reality, there are additional sites having funding problems also, but not quite to this extent..

Why did they leave instead of fight to stay in the market. One cause could be that US players make up below 20% of their total players and it was not worth the fight for a small percentage of your players. Other’s have a higher sum of players from the United States. Will they battle to stay in the market place when or if their letter arrives? They have alot more to lose so they should.

There’s no doubt this is a major development and it can get significantly bigger if more letters are sent. renault onderhoud . Next is for changes to be done. The government needs to pass some form of law or injunction to permit people to play poker online with US Poker SItes. It is true that the Justice Department’s recent ruling allowing individual states to operate online poker inside their borders might help, but it’s a couple of years away.