Bodog Poker

$24 Million dollars in funds have been seized from banks that payout to US poker players according to the government. Looks like the poker police is at it again. The US government, over a six year investigation, has tied bank accounts from Wachovia, Regions Bank, Bank of America and Sun Trust Bank to payment of US poker players. Bodog did not comment on this scenario but obviously that is not a good thing for online poker players in the US. Calvin Ayre has long been the bane of US authorities in terms of his being at large and allegedly in contempt of US law.

Bodog sponsors a number of professional poker players like David Williams and Evelyn Ng.

Here is the response from the Mohawk Gaming Group:

An article was recently released on Forbes.com that creates several mis-impressions that the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group feels compelled to clarify for our customers.

As most of our customers already know, all operators outsource payment processing functions to third parties and these payment processors are subject to regulatory constraints wherever they operate, and, occasionally in the US, are subject to legal action because of the uncertain legal environment there.

However, the seizure of funds from these US payment processors was mischaracterized in this article, which refers to two specific legal cases against US processors. Rightly or wrongly, the article does not make a clear distinction between these cases, which, as a result, paints a misleading picture.

The facts are these: the first of these cases – relating to a seizure of funds from a processor known as JBL Services – happened some time ago and has absolutely nothing to do with the current payment processing challenges being experienced in the US. The constraints being experienced by payment processors in the US are universal in that region and not specific to any particular processor or site. Also, note that not one single player failed to get paid when this processor was disrupted.

The second case refers to a payment processor known as Zippayments.com and seizure of funds from this processor’s bank accounts in Nevada. The article falsely implies – but notably does not go so far as to state - that $9.9M seized from Zippayment’s Nevada bank accounts were funds on account for “Bodog”. This is simply false.

Processing partners with whom the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group does business are sophisticated organizations that are perfectly clear as to the actual facts of these cases and their contexts. They are unfazed by such media hype and Morris Mohawk wishes to ensure that its customers are similarly informed. Customer deposits are safe and every player has and will always be paid.

Alwyn Morris
CEO
Morris Mohawk Gaming Group

Stay tuned! We have not heard the last of this.