Better late than never. It’s been a week since last Friday’s online poker shut down in the United States when the Feds seized the domain names for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker / UB.com. We’ve already heard that both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have reached agreements with the FBI to reopen their sites in the US for the purpose of allowing players to withdraw their money. But we hadn’t heard yet from Absolute Poker / UB.com even though the government stated that the same offer was available to them.
But no Absolute Poker has spoken and players on the site might want to get a bottle of Absolute Vodka before reading further. Now, Absolute Poker has stated that they believe that providing refunds to US players is an “immediate and pressing concern” and they do state that they want to work with the US Attorney to do so. But, well, first their bringing in the lawyers. Or as the statement from Absolute Poker says “given the far-reaching consequences of the US Attorney’s actions for Absolute Poker and for the entire poker community, Absolute Poker believes that the responsible course of action is to review with its attorneys the relevant court filings before taking any action.”
I don’t want to sound like a pessimist. I’m sure all the financial issues will eventually be resolved. It’s just that it’s been my experience that nothing moves faster when lawyers get involved. I suspect the legal counsel for Absolute Poker / UB.com won’t allow the company to work with the Attorney General’s office to issue refunds until they’ve crossed every t and dotted every i to make sure that the action isn’t seen as an admission of guilt.