Subject Poker: “DOJ Plans Action Against Merge”

There is the quirk in the US laws allowing online betting for Horse Racing, and apparently many Casino games. Thus Bodog, with it's sports book, and many others have been at that 'fringe'.

But those laws are interpretive, so some lawyers may not like, and thus advise management, how they see the laws and how they (the legal team) might fall under those laws. As we all know, other lawyers have (shall we say) different legal reasoning, and have no problem operating under the current laws.

This becomes a quandary for the morally challenged politicos who snaked the UIGEA into law, and most attempts to re-define it.

darkassassin89 said:

I told you all this would, might, is possibly, could happen no on e believed me XD

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jchris67 said:

Well that suxs. I wonder how the other smaller sites that the DOJ went after was able to fend them off and still keep operating in the US?

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Have you guys not actually read the whole thread?

No action has occurred against Merge and the AG's office has since said they plan no such action. This was a questionable article using questionable sources from the start. There are no current indications that anything has changed since BF with regards to Merge being any more vulnerable to action than they were before BF. People panicked and rumors ran rampant, but there appears to be no substance to it.

On the subject of checks, I will say that there have been quite a few reports of Merge checks bouncing lately. Of course that happened with even Stars and FTP before BF, so I don't know if it's actually any indication of new problems. Just more the same payment processor issues I expect, and from what I'm hearing Merge has been quick to re-issue checks or WU funds to those people affected.

Ah, so nothing maybe t worry about xD

Mentor said:

http://www.subjectpoker.com/2011/09/doj-merge/



No good.

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I've never had much luck getting any support from Players Only anyway. This does not surprise me. Can you transfer funds on that site? My wife and I both have an account there and if we combine, we may have enough to withdraw.

Dont know whats true or not but CARBON aint passing the quickness test. I have a very small withdrawl pending for over 3 weeks on Carbon, ALl I wanted to see was a quick check and Id put the money right back on so I had somewhere to play but this makes me think, how long am I gonna be held up for $120 (PLEASE) someone explain poker site offices, At the casino turn in chips, get money. why not at sites, withdrawl request CUT CHECK ON PRINTER SINCE MONEY IS SEGREGATED, and send out the next day I mean what are you getting for a $15 fee.

But this is not a very impressive move from Carbon, I mean if your gonna F people do it for big sums build up trust or get my $120 check to me so I can regive it back to yall

dan abnormal said:

Dont know whats true or not but CARBON aint passing the quickness test. I have a very small withdrawl pending for over 3 weeks on Carbon, ALl I wanted to see was a quick check and Id put the money right back on so I had somewhere to play but this makes me think, how long am I gonna be held up for $120 (PLEASE) someone explain poker site offices, At the casino turn in chips, get money. why not at sites, withdrawl request CUT CHECK ON PRINTER SINCE MONEY IS SEGREGATED, and send out the next day I mean what are you getting for a $15 fee.

But this is not a very impressive move from Carbon, I mean if your gonna F people do it for big sums build up trust or get my $120 check to me so I can regive it back to yall

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Agree with rant.Accept the if your going to F people over do it for big sums.It's not there money don't F no one over.

Guess i put bad wording in, Didnt mean F over anyone, I meant, at least build a little trust between player and site, it seems they should have no problems getting $120 withdraws, I can see some delays if some dude wants 5K (an actually I dont but I just saying) but if you are asking for peanuts, it shouldnt be a stratech for them to get those quick, so I could say WOW impressive that was fast, I will deposit again, right now I cant and wont say that except options are limited so I might have to say that LOL

People, you need to realize that when you withdraw from the poker cashier on Carbon (or Lock, BlackChip, or any other Merge skin) the skin doesn't process your withdrawal -- Merge does. 3-4 weeks is average for Merge withdrawals on ALL skins right now, so it's not a Carbon/Lock/et al problem, it's a Merge problem. For non-US customers withdrawing via, say, MoneyBookers, they're average 2-3 days to get their funds.

Post-BF when Merge was hit with new traffic and overwhelmed with processing withdrawals from panicky players, their lead time bloomed to 6-8 weeks. In the meantime some skins like Lock who had a casino or sportsbook operation were allowing poker players to transfer money to that side of the operation and bypass Merge processing. My second poker withdrawal from Lock came from their casino and I got it in 2 weeks vs the 6+ weeks Merge was taking at the time. Of course then they got overwhelmed while Merge caught back up, so now it's entirely the opposite. But don't expect faster than 3 weeks to get a paper check from pretty much any US site or payment processor -- it just isn't happening, and blaming one skin or another is being blind to the reality of the situation in the US. It ain't getting any better in the current environment.

So Merge isn't trying "F anybody." They're simply forced to work within the confines of the hostile US environment, where the processor market has contracted greatly since Black Friday. Cut 'em a break. They attempted to make things better by issuing gift cards instead of checks for awhile, but that backfired on them too, so now it looks like they're back to finding workarounds for paper check processors. And occasionally those checks are bouncing, but so they did with Stars and FT as well, so that's not very alarming. So far they're quickly making good on the bounced checks.

Amount of withdrawal has nothing to do with it either -- you go through the same process to withdraw $120 as someone does to withdraw $2500, all things being equal (verification documents sent in, etc.). So not sure why you expect $120 to be handled any faster -- I can assure you the regs who are withdrawing 10x or 20x that much on a regular basis would not be happy seeing your $120 take priority (nor would you, in their shoes).

Carbon charges a $15 fee to withdraw funds? What's the $15 for? Is that normal for those guys? PokerStars and Bodog never charges a fee.

jchris67 said:

Carbon charges a $15 fee to withdraw funds? What's the $15 for? Is that normal for those guys? PokerStars and Bodog never charges a fee.

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Merge reimburses you for one check a month, so the first one is free.

As I said in my post above, many sites charge a fee for withdrawals. Stars, FT, and Bodog charged for certain payout types, just not typically checks and EFT's. It's entirely standard. Especially post-BF, where payment processors are few and far between and demand high fees from the poker sites for the privilege. It's a cost of doing business and isn't a big deal unless you're withdrawing $50 at a time (which you really shouldn't be doing).

BTW, one of the room operators on 2+2 awhile back said it costs them in the neighborhood of $50 to issue a paper check to a US player. So even at $15 or $25 they're losing money on the withdrawal. Fortunately for them, relatively few people withdraw.

I play on Merge (PDCPoker original skin). I recently withdrew maximum amount. It took about 5 weeks. But the check hasn't bounced. Been 2 1/2 weeks since deposit. Things are better than they've been in a long time on Merge. Ya'll should come play.

Jurn8 said:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/doj-vs-merge-1095817/

sucks for yanks but just thought I would make you aware if you arent already!

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Protect us Canada~!!!!

For the record, we wouldn't have this problem in the US if you all woulda voted Ron Paul in 2008...we also wouldn't have an income tax, or be overseas in 60 different countries wasting our tax dollars. Vote Ron Paul 2012 and stop letting the government run your lives!

Wishful thinking Soncheebs, Ron Paul doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting elected.

PotluckXXI said:

Wishful thinking Soncheebs, Ron Paul doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting elected.

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But we can dream. Too bad Gary Johnson is so far off the radar. IMO he would be more electable.

Back on topic--Now that merge is accepting new US players, I would think that puts them back in the DOJ's line of fire in their quest to grab as much money as possible before any poker legislation is passed.

“DOJ Plans Action Against Merge”

Well one thing sorry to say I don't have a penny in any merge site I could withdraw. Now this $15 fee is unfair to me but the fact that we still have their sites to play on I'm not complaining. If you have a descent amount of money you are w/d I don't like it but I'll gladly pay it so I can make some poker money somewhere. This whole UIGEA is a crock a sh@t and who else signed it but our good ding bat president George Bush at the time. I think Gus Hansen put it best how in the world can we watch horses run around in circles and bet but yet grown adults can't sit in a circle at a table and play a skill game of poker go figure. CrazYhorse

crazyhorse72 said:

This whole UIGEA is a crock a sh@t and who else signed it but our good ding bat president George Bush at the time.

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LOL, please learn about the UIGEA first before making such posts. If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at Bill Frist and Jon Kyl, they're the ones who wrote it and at the last minute snuck it into a Homeland Security Ports Bill designed to secure our ports from terrorism.

Love him or hate him, I'm reasonably certain our "good ding bat president George Bush" didn't know he was signing the UIGEA. In fact a significant portion of Congress who voted to pass the ports bill didn't even know the UIGEA was in there. Bush knew he was signing a bill designed to improve national security -- he very likely had no idea there was anything gaming-related attached to it. And why would he? You think presidents read multi-thousand page bills before they sign them? They get a summary written by aids who probably either overlooked it themselves or considered it inconsequential to the overall bill.

Pork-barrel legislation and other bait & switch Congressional tactics have been around for centuries, and while I'd love for Congress to reform itself and ban the practice, I'm a realist. As long as Congress is comprised mainly of the old-guard it won't happen -- and by the time they die off, the young-guard will be the old-guard and the status quo remains. Political party is irrelevant, they're both equally corrupt when it comes to pushing their agendas.

dmorris68 said:

Pork-barrel legislation and other bait & switch Congressional tactics have been around for centuries, and while I'd love for Congress to reform itself and ban the practice, I'm a realist. As long as Congress is comprised mainly of the old-guard it won't happen -- and by the time they die off, the young-guard will be the old-guard and the status quo remains. Political party is irrelevant, they're both equally corrupt when it comes to pushing their agendas.

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And this is why there should be a push for a 28th amendment - term limits for congress.

I am already barely starting to get comfortable with Carbon, would just suck if it was gone to. I finally built up a decent roll through freerolls and constant grinding, would just hate to have more $$ in limbo like with FT

dmorris68 said:

Pork-barrel legislation and other bait & switch Congressional tactics have been around for centuries, and while I'd love for Congress to reform itself and ban the practice, I'm a realist. As long as Congress is comprised mainly of the old-guard it won't happen -- and by the time they die off, the young-guard will be the old-guard and the status quo remains. Political party is irrelevant, they're both equally corrupt when it comes to pushing their agendas.

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^^^This.

The only apparently significant difference with us, the impressionable public is which party we perceive is less corrupt today, which can and does change almost daily.

bubbasbestbabe said:

And this is why there should be a push for a 28th amendment - term limits for congress.

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Not that this will pass. McKinley to Co-sponsor Term Limits Bill

I sometimes wonder how we became the greatest country in the world when the politicians are more focused on politics than running the country. It seems to have gotten much worse in the past ten years or so.

If merge pulls out of the market I will be so pissed, We US players will have almost nothing. Basically only a few sites with no traffic at peak hours which will suck. God Bless Poker

soncheebs said:

For the record, we wouldn't have this problem in the US if you all woulda voted Ron Paul in 2008...we also wouldn't have an income tax, or be overseas in 60 different countries wasting our tax dollars. Vote Ron Paul 2012 and stop letting the government run your lives!

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Forget Ron Paul we should have voted in MCcain he would have been the best pres the USA has ever seen.

I think a non politician would do better. Maybe Ted Nugent