Online Poker Winners Turn to Wire Transfers in Wake of Frozen Bank Accounts

SAN JUAN, Costa Rica - In recent weeks, the United States government has seized over $30 million in online poker player accounts run on the CEREUS poker network. Online Poker sites including PokerStars,
  UltimateBet, Absolute Bet and Full Tilt Poker have been hit with this seizure of online poker accounts.  

Many players have been worried about the outcome of how thier accounts will be paid back to them.  So far most online poker rooms have credited the money back to players accounts with a bonus for the inconvenience.  Today PokerStars has given the option for players to cash out their accounts via money wire transfer as a method to get around the seizure of these accounts. This is a letter sent out from PokerStars regarding cashout methods:

"Hello,

Due to a recent processing issue, we are currently experiencing a backlog of paper check cashout requests. This means that a number of paper check transactions, yours included, have unfortunately experienced a delay.

While you should still receive the cheque within our stipulated 15 business day timeframe, may we suggest that you may wish to consider a bank wire transfer cashout as an alternative.

We have recently lowered the minimum cashout value for this payment method to $1,000 … the payment will be sent by wire to be credited directly to your account in 3-5 business days….

Should you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

PokerStars Payment Services"

Obviously well-known and respected online poker sites such as PokerStars have every interest to keep their patrons confident that all winings will be paid to them. Until this entire controversy is over, sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt will have to continue to find creative ways to pay players for their winnings.