The Beginning of the Skyfall in US Poker
At the end of the previous century, poker started growing more and more popular among card lovers. The game spread in the United States, starting from the gambling Meccas Las Vegas and Atlantic City. 1970 was the year in which seven of the best poker players gathered in the Horseshoe Casino (Las Vegas, Nevada) for a tournament and this event gave the start of World Series of Poker. At the end of the nineties, the first online poker game with real money was available. Millions of people were playing, some for maintaining themselves, others just for the kicks of it. If you are interested where you can play, you can read our page about the best poker sites in the UK and choose one of our trusted operators. Don’t worry, they are all perfectly secure and there is no way that the Black Friday can repeat with any of them. But to go back to the topic…
The boom of poker at the beginning of the 21st century lead to the birth of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (or UIGEA) in the US. This bill, signed by George W. Bush in 2006 and effective since January 2009, was a big blow for the gambling industry. There were wide discussions about UIGEA and the restrictions that were applied by it. And we now reach the hated April 2011. The main characters, for now, are Preet Bharara and Janice Fedarcyk. Preet Bharara, at the time of the happenings, was the US Attorney in the Southern District of NY, while Janice Fedarcyk was the Assistant Director in Charge in the NY Field Office of FBI. They unsealed an indictment against three poker networks – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. When the UIGEA was accepted, the mother company of Absolute Poker was traded as public on the London Exchange Market, putting it in legal risks. The other two companies claimed that they had no knowledge of breaking the laws.
In simple words, UIGEA made online gambling illegal in the States. So the profits of the online poker operators, gained after the Act, were also illegal. DOJ accused the sites with money laundering that was happening with the help of payment processors and even some banks. The help from the payment operators and the banks came after some pretty big bribing, according to officials.
The three operators, whose domains were seized, were known as The Big 3. Even if you have never heard of them, their pseudonym must tip you off that they were the three biggest and therefore the best online poker websites, operating on US soil. This hit caused the otherwise stable poker market to start crumbling down. After you finish reading our article, you can also take a look at our trusted online casino site which can offer you great poker games and much more!
The Black Friday Poker Scandal in Depth
Imagine that you enter your favourite online poker website and the only writing you can see is ‘This domain name has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’. Shocking isn’t it… We bet that all the regular players of Full Tilt, PokerStars and Absolute Poker were thrilled by the news, circulating in mass media. No one could withdraw money from the platforms of the three operators. And even worse – no one knew if they could ever withdraw their money.
Experts were saying that after Black Friday the popularity of poker will decrease dramatically. Tournaments that were happening around the States lost their sponsors, like the North American Poker Tour. In March 2011 an announcement was made for the Onix Cup, a series tournament with buy-ins between $100,000 and $300,000. One month later, just one day after Black Friday the event was cancelled by Full Tilt Poker. The same was the destiny of the TV broadcasts ‘Poker Stars The Big Game’ and ‘Poker After Dark’. Dozens of professional online poker players were left without any sponsorship too, and the ones who wanted to keep on with their careers were forced to either go international or fall in the black market. More than 70 bank accounts in 14 countries were frozen.
The money of players being blocked raised the voice of several organisations, among which was the Poker Players Alliance. It was clear, both for them and for the players, that online poker must be regulated and legalised even if the only reason is to protect the players from the distress, caused by Black Friday. Currently, there are three states where online poker is legal – New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware.
The three operators had very different reactions one from another. Poker Stars and Full Tilt immediately stopped any real money games they had. Poker Stars fully cooperated with the US Government and was allowed to keep their overseas business. They opened a new domain and a new email for support. Just within a week and a half, Poker Stars started processing the withdrawal requests of players. Full Tilt apparently worked with DOJ too. But just apparently. Just months after Black Friday, the DOJ charged the executive Chris Ferguson and three others from Full Tilt. It came clear that C.F and the rest have paid out some millions of dollars to themselves, fully aware of the fact that the operator has no money to pay its players. With Absolute Poker the things went completely down the hill, with a refusal to process any withdrawals. After a long saga, in 2017 the first payments to Absolute Poker’s customers was approved by the DOJ. Later on, Full Tilt was acquired by Poker Stars and the customers of Full Tilt were also paid.
Jail Time and Prosecutions for the Guilty Ones… or Not?
The total amount of the penalties for The Big 3 was counted in a nine-digit number. Eleven people were charged at the time of the Black Friday and three of them were sentenced to jail for between 3 months and 3 years. The case was called United States v. Scheinberg, who is the founder of Poker Stars. Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Full Tilt founder, disappeared and stayed away from the eyes for 5 years, appearing on the 2016 WSOP, but staying mute. His first public statement came out in 2018 and if you are interested in the matter, you can check our article ‘Chris Ferguson Apology about Black Friday’.
Millions of dollars were lost in the range of months, if not weeks because of the Black Friday. The trust of many players in online poker sites was lost and it took years to be regained. Still, after every fall we should stand up stronger than before. This is exactly what the poker industry and society did after the Black Friday. As of 2018, poker is one of the most played online gambling games in the world, offering new and better variations and options to the players. On the place of The Big 3 appeared new operators, with 888 Poker taking the lead. Players regained confidence in the online poker sites The scandal Black Friday affected the entire sector, giving us all food for thought about the licensing and regulations of the online gamble and the correct behaviour of companies and authorities in solving problems that might appear.
After the fall of the Big 3, new operators took their places and right now, 888 Poker is the leader in the field. Players again gave their trust to online poker sites and now, eight years later, the cards are flying more than ever! The entire ordeal with the Black Friday influenced and stirred the entire industry, making us all reflect on the issues with regulations and monitoring of online poker and the proper behaviour of businesses and official bodies in resolving any issues and obstacles that might appear.
