PokerRoom refuses to cashout US player

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

their stance is understandable. you must leave the country to get your money back. they gave you a certain amount of time to withdraw, right?

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

if they send him money, then why not let all americans who still have money in their account to continue playing as they are not accepting money from the USA? the company obviously hasnt taken that stance. there stance is no transactions to or from the usa. he had a grace period to withdraw and didnt, now he needs a foreign addy as far as i can tell.

[CardSharpCook]

The amount is $3352. Long story short, I used to be a MTT player, and would keep money on all sites just in case. PokerRoom offered a series of $1000 tourneys which were somewhat soft, esp considering the structure. Most of these accounts were cashed out long ago, and I assumed the PokerRoom account was as well. On a whim, I checked my pokerRoom account the other day.

lebowski,
I have to think you can see the difference btwn allowing a player to close his account by sending him a final cashout and simply cutting off in future deposits.

To your other question, moving to another country would not allow me to get my money back either as the account is registered and created in the US.

Eric,
Given that no US law prevents them from a) sending me a check b) allowing me to play, it is hard for me to imagine them ever allowing me to access my money.

D$D,
PokerRoom has told me that their rules prohibit me from transferring money as well.

All,
What scares/annoys/baffles me the most is that 4 different customer service people told me, "we're currently looking for a way to get US players their money." Given that all sites operating in the US have found such a method, it seems to me they are not looking very had at all. Also, this search has currently lasted 13 months. No, I can't think they are trying much at all. It is my belief that they have a rather significant amount of US money trapped in their system which they are hoping is forgiven or forgotten. That is, given that there is not much I can do at this point, that it is only $3k, that no one really seems to care, I will likely choose to wait, as I have no other apparent option. So if they open their doors to US players 5 years down the road, will I really remember?

Skall,
PokerRoom does offer a cashout by check option for their European clients. My bank, Bank of America, honors checks from pokerstars and Absolute, so I have to imagine they'd honor a check from PokerRoom. PokerRoom refuses to send, claiming to be bound by US law.

[TheEngineer]

I'd try what xxThe_Lebowskixx is hinting at. I was successful at another site. I'll PM you if you want.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

"lebowski,
I have to think you can see the difference btwn allowing a player to close his account by sending him a final cashout and simply cutting off in future deposits.

To your other question, moving to another country would not allow me to get my money back either as the account is registered and created in the US."

have they confirmed this? i would be very surprised if this were true.

[Skallagrim]

Thet are being A--holes if they refuse to send you a check. Ask them to send it just in precisely the same manner they send out checks to europeans, only to your US address. If they refuse to do this, tell them you will take legal action and report them to whatever regulates them. It is your money. YOU CAN BE SURE - THERE IS NO LAW BEING BROKEN BY THEM SENDING YOU A CHECK FOR YOUR MONEY. They already broke the law (if poker is against the law - see discussion elsewhere) when they accepted your US money for "gambling" purposes after 10/13/06. And when they had their grace period, they were just as much in violation of any law as they would be now. The law is an excuse. What if they owed you money because at one point you had done some work for them? Legally, its exactly the same.

But sometimes it is better to be creative than to openly fight. PM TheEngineer, he always has good advice.

Skallagrim