FBI Seizes Poker Domains

lothos · Apr 15, 2011

FBI Seizes Poker Domains

The FBI today is following in ICE’s footsteps by seizing the domains of the three largest U.S. poker sites. The FBI has seized UB.com, FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com, AbsolutePoker.com.

The nameservers were updated to point to cirfu.net and the websites are now displaying messages stating that the domains were seized.

M@x · Apr 15, 2011

FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com, etc. over fraud

(Reuters) - The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds.

Eleven people including the owners of Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars were charged with violating U.S. anti-Internet gambling laws, according to charges filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
The charges are part of a crackdown on Internet gambling in the United States, where it has been illegal since 2006.

In March, Wynn Resorts Ltd said that it had entered into a partnership with PokerStars, and that they would work for passage of U.S. legislation that would define illegal Internet gambling.

(Reporting by Basil Katz)

Source: Reuters.com

More on this HERE.

Time to invest in ccTLDs!

DNNinja · Apr 15, 2011

oh oh ... and to think DC just got legalized for online poker.

DU · Apr 15, 2011

They're up.

But Gambling is illegal and immoral! It ruins families ! It's a destructive force!

...unless its at a state run casino, state run lottery operation, or taxed Seminole casino...in that case its its not that bad, really.

But no... it's IMMORAL It's stealing money from the poor which is all disgusting ... it's using a system for their own benefit with DISREGARD for who gets hurt.. it's DISGUSTING industry that does that...

unless it's a bank, Wall $treet or, you know, some other kind of lobby supported business.

lothos · Apr 15, 2011

Juanny said:
They're up.

No they're not.

DNNinja said:
oh oh ... and to think DC just got legalized for online poker.

Yeah, I read that today too... they're just clearing out the competition lol

DU · Apr 15, 2011

lothos said:
No they're not.

Apparently South Florida really isn't part of the United States then!

Viva La Corrupcion!

This is based on some crappy law anyway - the Supreme Court is going to waste time ruling on this.... *YAWN*

America, Land of the Stupid .... Lets legalize online gambling in DC then take down competition based on arcane laws that have previously been rejected by the courts... so we can ....who cares...

DNNinja · Apr 15, 2011

I can almost see Phil Helmuth going nuts by now ... tearing up the house furnitures, kicking out the dog and giving his neighbors the finger. lol

lothos · Apr 15, 2011

Juanny said:
Apparently South Florida really isn't part of the United States then!

Wait for the DNS to propagate, it was just updated a couple of hours ago. It's all over the news now. The domains were definitely seized.

If you visit the link I posted you can see the graphic that's being displayed on the domains.

Domain Name: FULLTILTPOKER.COM
Registrar: SAFENAMES LTD
Whois Server: whois.safenames.net
Referral URL: http://www.safenames.net
Name Server: NS1.CIRFU.NET
Name Server: NS2.CIRFU.NET
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: serverDeleteProhibited
Status: serverTransferProhibited
Status: serverUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 15-apr-2011
Creation Date: 20-aug-2002
Expiration Date: 20-aug-2016

silentg · Apr 15, 2011

Time for them to move to UK.

enlytend · Apr 15, 2011

Wouldn't be surprised if this is directly related to legalizing it in DC ...

If internet poker becomes legal, US companies want a piece of the pie. Make that the WHOLE pie. This would be their chance to wrestle market share away from the successful offshore groups. Kind of like how the horse racing/betting organizations were the force behind the Kentucky gambling domain seizure a while back.

Washington DC has made a revenue share deal with a company called Intralot USA to develop and manage their poker site. Internet poker is being legalized - with their choice of business partners and on their terms.

lothos said:

Yeah, I read that today too... they're just clearing out the competition lol

:bingo: (Oops - can I say "bingo" in the US?)

DU · Apr 15, 2011

lothos said:
Wait for the DNS to propagate, it was just updated a couple of hours ago. It's all over the news now. The domains were definitely seized.

If you visit the link I posted you can see the graphic that's being displayed on the domains.

Domain Name: FULLTILTPOKER.COM
Registrar: SAFENAMES LTD
Whois Server: whois.safenames.net
Referral URL: http://www.safenames.net
Name Server: NS1.CIRFU.NET
Name Server: NS2.CIRFU.NET
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: serverDeleteProhibited
Status: serverTransferProhibited
Status: serverUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 15-apr-2011
Creation Date: 20-aug-2002
Expiration Date: 20-aug-2016

I doubt they'll stay down. I'm sure the legal teams will have them up and running soon enough.

Looks like propagation is slower than I would have expected.

HostMantis · Apr 15, 2011

The Internet domain names of the companies were also seized.

Pokerstars.com seems to still be in business as far as I can see.

lothos · Apr 15, 2011

Juanny said:
I doubt they'll stay down. I'm sure the legal teams will have them up and running soon enough.

I doubt they'll get the domains back. More than likely they'll move to new domains.

Looks like propagation is slower than I would have expected.

Your ISP might have the previous DNS entries cached.

M@x · Apr 15, 2011

CEREUS got its AbsolutePoker.com domain seized too.

Smiler · Apr 15, 2011

Those sites are SOOOO Rigged. If you enjoy playing poker just play with real people in your home town. I'm pretty sure that there are some people holding a game on the weekends or weekdays.

Erdy · Apr 15, 2011

FullTiltPoker.com is legal in the UK and their domain is registered with a UK registrar. They are not a US company. I don't understand how their domain was seized. I see their ads on TV all the time.

From FullTiltPoker.com's website:

We are a company registered in Alderney with company number 1635. Our registered office is at Inchalla, Le Val, Alderney, Channel Islands, GY9 3UL

FullTiltPoker.com's registrar:
http://www.safenames.net/AboutUs/ContactUs.aspx

Head Office
Europe/Middle East/Africa Sales
Safenames Ltd
Safenames House
Sunrise Parkway
Linford Wood
Milton Keynes
United Kingdom
MK14 6LS

Is this related to verisign or icann? If that's the case then US departments are definitely overreaching. How can they seize domains of a foreign company especially if the domain is registered with a foreign registrar as well?

lothos · Apr 15, 2011

Erdy said:
How can they seize domains of a foreign company especially if the domain is registered with a foreign registrar as well?

Because they were doing business with, and taking money from, US citizens... which is illegal for them to do.

Erdy · Apr 15, 2011

It is illegal in the US but not in the UK. How did FBI change the nameservers of a domain registered with a UK registrar? The registrar shouldn't listed what FBI or a US court says.

barefoottech · Apr 15, 2011

http://pokerstars.fr/en/ Still Live for English speaking players
And despite being businesses registered in Alderney or Isle of Man. USA can seize the domains .

iowadawg · Apr 15, 2011

Read the full lawsuit, etc.
They were seized, the money they could locate was seized, the people are being hunted down.

Because of the illegal way they got around US laws in not having credit card companies accept gambling charges, etc.
Seems they used shill companies, got people to lie to accept money, and so forth.

RazorNF · Apr 16, 2011

Erdy said:
It is illegal in the US but not in the UK. How did FBI change the nameservers of a domain registered with a UK registrar? The registrar shouldn't listed what FBI or a US court says.

While the registrar is in the UK, the registRY is in the US.

domainstaff · Apr 16, 2011

Erdy said:
It is illegal in the US but not in the UK. How did FBI change the nameservers of a domain registered with a UK registrar? The registrar shouldn't listed what FBI or a US court says.

Verisign is the registry for .Com and .Net and it's a US company. This is how the FBI shut down the 3 sites.

Erdy · Apr 16, 2011

It is not right that a US Judge can seize any .com domain just because the registry happens to be in the US. Those are legal and licensed businesses in other countries. There are people who make a living in this industry elsewhere in the world and they will be effected by this.

This is typical American BS.

iowadawg · Apr 16, 2011

Before you make such judgements, READ the damn lawsuit, etc!
Geesh....
Did anybody read it?
The owners were BREAKING the law by the way they were accepting payments and then laundering them to make them look legitimate.

Erdy · Apr 16, 2011

Even if they were breaking the law in the US this doesn't justify the seizure of the domains names that were registered with a UK registrar. The domain name system needs to become independent from American BS.

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