The "Big Three" Poker Sites Busted

You read it right, folks. Ultimate Bet, PokerStars and Full Tilt poker have all been shut down. A total of eleven executives from the companies have been charged with money laundering and straight-out bank fraud in a federal indictment. Prosecutors are seeking pocket-change to the tune of $3 billion dollars from the poker gaming sites.

Folks get real shifty when it comes to money, and when it comes to money being handled illegally, they can get downright mean. The F.B.I issued the arrest warrants, so this isn't a little snag in the plan. This may prove to be the end of online gambling, at least for cards.

The feds are also saying that these sites found ways around the 2006 law that congress passed specifically prohibiting online gambling. Ultimate Bet, PokerStars and Full Tilt poker found temporary ways around that law, but prosecutors are saying that along the way, they broke the law in order to do so. It should prove very interesting to see how this case unfolds.

"These defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits," Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement. - Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound stuff that's going to go away with a slap on the wrist and a small fine. That's some serious bidness, y'all. Ultimate Bet, PokerStars and Full Tilt poker are all in a chest-high pile of doo-doo.

And what of the literally millions of people who have money on those sites for gambling purposes? Will they get their balances back or will they be seized? On top of the federal charges, something tells me this could turn into one of the biggest class-action law suits in history. We aren't talking about a few hundred dollars here. I'll try and keep you updated as I learn more.