Owners of three of the largest online poker sites — Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars, and Absolute Poker — were charged with violating the UIGEA by defrauding banks into believing that the shell companies to which online poker money was funneled were legitimate entities.  This obviously is a massive development.  It signals the U.S.’s intent to crack down on online gambling (including poker), its willingness to enforce the UIGEA, and the banks’ opposition to gaming (rather than pushing to repeal the UIGEA).  It also could be a foreshadowing of the closing of the major sites and the federal government’s willingness to oppose intrastate online sites (and certainly the District of Columbia’s recent efforts, since it is subject to federal law).  We all need more time to digest this.  I will be posting more thoughts in the near future.  Stay tuned. 

(Oh, one final thought.  The department of justice does not rush indictments.  This was a case that it had been developing for some time but keeping quiet.  Wonder why they chose now to release the hounds.  The D.C. law?  Bank pressure?  Random coincidence?)