USA Today article - Neteller

[Synergistic Explosions]

9/11 really has changed our lives, just like the terrorists said it would.

[Leader]

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I could forsee a stop being placed until Neteller is capable of issuing a 1099 for tax purposes for each individual US account holder.

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I don't see how that is possible as NT has no idea how much people have made. They only know how much people moved through their system. People often cash out or buy in via a different method then NT. Even if we move past that, most of the money in the gamboling economy is in sites ATM not in NT. Therefore any information they have is incomplete unless that money were to go back through their system.

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What you say is partially correct, but they can give a total for the amount in each account from a specific date forward (i,e. 2/1/2007) This can then be the base amount for a 1099 to be issued. It would then be up to each tax payer to come up with records in order to show losses and gains.

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But the 1099 would be wrong. In addition to the other things I mentioned. It's possible the money has already been taxed. Simply having money in NT seems relatively unrelated to whether that money is taxable winnings. Just issuing a 1099 with the amount of money in the account would create all kinds of headaches for everyone not just costumers. For example the 100 bucks I have in there came from a P2P transfer unrelated to poker. Lot's of people likely have money in there from having just loading their accounts. I doubt the IRS wants to go through tens of thousands of people's explanations to why a few K isn't taxable. This whole scenario just seems very unlikely. I could see the DOJ requesting info on people that had a large amount of money on there to make sure they are clean on the tax front, but having NT issue tax forms to everyone just makes a confusing mess that I can't see why they'd want to deal with.

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Or the DOJ may simply seize all funds similar to what they do in drug cases. I'm sure they (the US gov) would love to do this if they could and currently have their lawyers exploring all options.

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Well that money isn't in the US I think. So that will pose some challenges in that direction. It's possible they could overcome that. Seems like pretty bad PR though. It's one thing to go after big bad cooperations that enable vise. It's another to take patrons money. After all, they're trying to "protect" us poor souls. There's also the issue that it's very questionable in most parts of the US whether playing poker on the internet is illegal for the patrons. There certainly have been no prosecutions much less convictions for such activities. Anything is, of course, possible though.

[PeterWellington]

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I could forsee a stop being placed until Neteller is capable of issuing a 1099 for tax purposes for each individual US account holder.

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I don't see how that is possible as NT has no idea how much people have made. They only know how much people moved through their system. People often cash out or buy in via a different method then NT. Even if we move past that, most of the money in the gamboling economy is in sites ATM not in NT. Therefore any information they have is incomplete unless that money were to go back through their system.

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What you say is partially correct, but they can give a total for the amount in each account from a specific date forward (i,e. 2/1/2007) This can then be the base amount for a 1099 to be issued. It would then be up to each tax payer to come up with records in order to show losses and gains.

Or the DOJ may simply seize all funds similar to what they do in drug cases. I'm sure they (the US gov) would love to do this if they could and currently have their lawyers exploring all options.

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I doubt they'll have Neteller issue some 1099 type form. That would make as much sense as having a U.S. bank issue them for a non-interest bearing checking account.

I'm more concerned with a long drawn out court battle and bankruptcy.

[Rigel]

It sounds to me like Neteller might be holding the funds of US citizens hostage so that people will start writing their Congressmen and get the FBI off their back. And they get the added bonus of continuing to collect interest on your funds in the meantime.

This situation is looking worse by the day.

[billmagnet]

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It sounds to me like Neteller might be holding the funds of US citizens hostage so that people will start writing their Congressmen and get the FBI off their back. And they get the added bonus of continuing to collect interest on your funds in the meantime.

This situation is looking worse by the day.

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Dear Congressman,

Please help me get my money back from a site that funded something you considered so illegal that you snuck legislation into a port security bill to help ban.

Thanks,

Joe Q. Poker Player

[cnfuzzd]

fwiw, im reading this as sloppy news work on the part of usa today (surprize surprize). I think they are actually conflating the two issues being discussed. The neteller crack down, which is where most of your monies are tied up, and the bet2 episode, which actually has resulted in the tie-up of us player funds because of numerous legal obstacles including injunctions being issued by antigua, the us govmt, and i think a couple of state govmts. This case is quite complicated, and all the documents on it, *especially those which have blocked or hampered the disbersement of players funds* are very public. As far as im aware, no documents blocking the release of player funds have been made public.

just a fwiw.


pjn

[Green Devil]

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It sounds to me like Neteller might be holding the funds of US citizens hostage so that people will start writing their Congressmen and get the FBI off their back. And they get the added bonus of continuing to collect interest on your funds in the meantime.

This situation is looking worse by the day.

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I think the local congressman will agree with the feds, not Neteller customer's.

IMO the most probable outcome is that funds will be frozen for a long time and then they will be returned to their owners. This way, nobody will be able to accuse the gvt of stealing money from their citizens and the citizens will think twice before trusting e-wallts with their money again for gambling purposes.

[Rigel]

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It sounds to me like Neteller might be holding the funds of US citizens hostage so that people will start writing their Congressmen and get the FBI off their back. And they get the added bonus of continuing to collect interest on your funds in the meantime.

This situation is looking worse by the day.

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Dear Congressman,

Please help me get my money back from a site that funded something you considered so illegal that you snuck legislation into a port security bill to help ban.

Thanks,

Joe Q. Poker Player

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Even if the feds are unsympathetic to us personally, the funds in question are assets of the US economy. At this point, holding on to that money is all the leverage that Neteller has with the FBI.

So I stand by my statement that Neteller is holding the money hostage- it seems clear as day to me.

[Rigel]

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IMO the most probable outcome is that funds will be frozen for a long time and then they will be returned to their owners. This way, nobody will be able to accuse the gvt of stealing money from their citizens and the citizens will think twice before trusting e-wallts with their money again for gambling purposes.

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Agreed.

[txbarbarossa]

This is actually a great thing these morons at the DOJ have done. NOTHING is going to mobilize gamblers more than their funds being seized by what I consider criminals in their own right.. That's right - THE DOJ. They are theives. It's time to ban together and get that UIGEA bullsh*t repealed.