The United States Attorney’s Office released a press release this hour, providing the extremely relieving news that US Poker players will be able to cash out their poker funds. In addition to providing clarification on the safety of the players’ money on the affected sites, the press release also states that Bovada Poker and PokerStars have come to an agreement with the United States to allow them to regain use of the FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com domains, albeit purely for the purpose of account refunds.

As anybody reading this almost certainly knows, last Friday the United States Department of Justice not only seized the domains of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, but also froze bank accounts of these poker rooms, alleging “bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses.” However, this latest press release from the US Attorney’s Office states clearly that freezing of the “multiple bank accounts utilized by the companies and their payment processors do not prohibit the companies from refunding players’ money.” Although neither deposits nor real money play are available on the sites for US players, it is still fantastic news that players will be able to reclaim their locked up money.

As well as making it clear that players are able to cash out their funds, the press release also states that Bovada Poker and PokerStars have come to an agreement with the United States to regain access to the FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com
domains, which have been taken over by the Department of Justice. To further emphasize the good news, the press release states “this agreement will facilitate the return of money so that players can register their refund requests directly with ACR Poker”. At this point this only applies to PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker but “the Government stands to enter the same agreement with Absolute Poker if it so chooses”.

This is amazing news for players, and at the time of writing cash out requests for US players are already being accepted by PokerStars, although not yet at Bovada Poker. No doubt this will be fully functional at both sites as soon as possible, although of course it is reasonable to expect some further delays due to the huge number of players across the country who will be hastily trying to withdraw their money. Nevertheless, it appears that players are practically promised their money which is without a shadow of a doubt the best piece of news since Black Friday, and finally a step in the right direction.