Online Casino Transfer: News - Allied Processors to Settle in US Courts

08/30/2010		Online Casino Style: News Allied Processors to Settle in US Courts
Home History Games News Dictionary		Though the last month to six weeks have been relatively quiet in terms of updating the constant battle between the online gambling industry and the enforcement of the ban on internet casinos in the US, a new source has said that prosecutors are back on the trail this August, tracking down and seizing additional funds associated with online gambling in the US, seizing and freezing the accounts. According to an article included in this week’s edition of Forbes Business, the attempts by the authorities to stifle and discourage internet casino and poker play continue this week with the news that an agreement has been made between federal prosecutors and the firms Allied Wallet and Allied Systems, two companies associated with owner/operator Ahmad Khawaja. According to sources, the Allied brand names will be responsible for paying out $13.3 million to the feds, in exchange for the release of the frozen and seized bank accounts reported more than a year ago, in June of 2009. The settlement is being viewed by some in the internet gambling community as a hopeful beginning to the end. The case dragged on, with officials alleging that the funds being held and managed by the companies were associated with illegal gambling activities, traced from winnings at Poker Stars, an online casino that operates in internet poker services, as well as other, similar online gambling companies. Since the monies were proceeds linked to the “illegal transmission of gambling information,” read the court documents, they were proof of the operation of an illegal gambling business, and promptly seized by the feds. Poker Stars alleged that they had nothing to do with the movement and laundering of the funds, which was completed to avoid the laws laid out by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prohibit transactions and financial transmissions associated with online gambling sites. Poker Stars does accept players from the US, stating that they are in accordance with several official legal opinions on the grey area. For this instance, however, Khawaja seems to be taking the brunt of the fall and responsibility, as demonstrated by his signature on the settlement details with the authorities. "Department of Justice officials have for years taken the position that facilitating for-money online poker violates U.S. law, making no distinction between online sports betting - clearly illegal - and online poker playing,” read the Forbes piece. “Still, the fact that prosecutors have not moved directly against the online operators has suggested to some that the governments position is weak.” Regardless of current circumstances, the whole of the internet gambling market in the US is likely to change in the next six months of a year, which will shed a whole new layer of complication on ongoing cases such as Allied’s. And the UIGEA does little to discourage internet poker play in any case, with Poker Stars still holding the top spot as favorite online poker website for US players, generating some $1.4 billion in annual revenue.

08/30/2010

Online Casino Style: News
Allied Processors to Settle in US Courts

Though the last month to six weeks have been relatively quiet in terms of updating the constant battle between the online gambling industry and the enforcement of the ban on internet casinos in the US, a new source has said that prosecutors are back on the trail this August, tracking down and seizing additional funds associated with online gambling in the US, seizing and freezing the accounts.

According to an article included in this week’s edition of Forbes Business, the attempts by the authorities to stifle and discourage internet casino and poker play continue this week with the news that an agreement has been made between federal prosecutors and the firms Allied Wallet and Allied Systems, two companies associated with owner/operator Ahmad Khawaja. According to sources, the Allied brand names will be responsible for paying out $13.3 million to the feds, in exchange for the release of the frozen and seized bank accounts reported more than a year ago, in June of 2009.

The settlement is being viewed by some in the internet gambling community as a hopeful beginning to the end. The case dragged on, with officials alleging that the funds being held and managed by the companies were associated with illegal gambling activities, traced from winnings at Poker Stars, an online casino that operates in internet poker services, as well as other, similar online gambling companies. Since the monies were proceeds linked to the “illegal transmission of gambling information,” read the court documents, they were proof of the operation of an illegal gambling business, and promptly seized by the feds.

Poker Stars alleged that they had nothing to do with the movement and laundering of the funds, which was completed to avoid the laws laid out by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prohibit transactions and financial transmissions associated with online gambling sites. Poker Stars does accept players from the US, stating that they are in accordance with several official legal opinions on the grey area. For this instance, however, Khawaja seems to be taking the brunt of the fall and responsibility, as demonstrated by his signature on the settlement details with the authorities.

"Department of Justice officials have for years taken the position that facilitating for-money online poker violates U.S. law, making no distinction between online sports betting - clearly illegal - and online poker playing,” read the Forbes piece. “Still, the fact that prosecutors have not moved directly against the online operators has suggested to some that the governments position is weak.”

Regardless of current circumstances, the whole of the internet gambling market in the US is likely to change in the next six months of a year, which will shed a whole new layer of complication on ongoing cases such as Allied’s. And the UIGEA does little to discourage internet poker play in any case, with Poker Stars still holding the top spot as favorite online poker website for US players, generating some $1.4 billion in annual revenue.