Published on April 11th, 2008 11:20 pm EST
This story is still breaking, and we are still waiting for responses from the various poker rooms that we have emailed on this matter. We will update this page as we hear more about Epassporte.
Earlier today, a rumor was posted on 2+2 that Epassporte had pulled the plug on US poker players.
Epassporte was disabled (at least temporarily) as a funding option from a number of the major online sites, including Pokerstars. If you try to process a transaction using Epassporte on Pokerstars right now, you will receive a message stating that the option has been temporarily disabled.
The option was also removed completely on a number of sites, including Cake Poker.
Support reps at a number of the major online rooms were saying that it was "technical difficulties". They said that this is what representatives from Epassporte were telling them.
However, just about an hour ago, Cake Poker posted this message in their cashier screen:
"To all Cake Poker Customers:
We have received notice from ePassporte today that they are unable to continue to provide CakePoker with merchant e-wallet services. We have since confirmed that this situation is not unique to CakePoker and is, in fact, industry wide.
While we are disappointed with this decision, we want to reassure all players that there will be no impact to either your account balances or your account status at Cake. We are pleased to have launched earlier this week with a new payment processor and have already secured alternative processors/eWallets that we will be launching in the weeks to come. We are also in discussions with other providers that will be making their services available in the CakePoker cashier soon. Players are welcome to inquire with Customer Support for more details.
As always, we value your business and will continue to make every effort possible to make your poker experience a great one.
Regards,
The CakePoker Team"
As of 11:02 pm EST, this is what is posted on their Cashier screen.
It seems as though Epassporte will be disallowing all transactions, not just those from American customers. We are located outside of the United States and are getting the same messages. The message from Cake would certainly seem to indicate that this will affect everyone, not just Americans.
Epassporte has not made any kind of an official statement. There are many unanswered questions at this time, such as:
1. Why did they suddenly pull the plug without giving any notice? (if this is in fact the case)
2. What about people who currently have money sitting in Epassporte? (apparently withdrawals are still going through, but this is unconfirmed)
3. How are you supposed to withdraw your money from an online poker site if you used Epassporte to deposit?
Hopefully we will have some answers to your questions soon. Hopefully Epassporte will actually clarify the situation for their customers.
Edit: 12:14 am EST - Epassporte support still claiming "technical difficulties". Withdrawals are apparently still going through fine at this time.
--
Filed Under: UIGEA
| Poker Legal Issues
This story is still breaking, and we are still waiting for responses from the various poker rooms that we have emailed on this matter. We will update this page as we hear more about Epassporte.Earlier today, a rumor was posted on 2+2 that Epassporte had pulled the plug on US poker players.
Epassporte was disabled (at least temporarily) as a funding option from a number of the major online sites, including Pokerstars. If you try to process a transaction using Epassporte on Pokerstars right now, you will receive a message stating that the option has been temporarily disabled.
The option was also removed completely on a number of sites, including Cake Poker.
Support reps at a number of the major online rooms were saying that it was "technical difficulties". They said that this is what representatives from Epassporte were telling them.
However, just about an hour ago, Cake Poker posted this message in their cashier screen:
"To all Cake Poker Customers:
We have received notice from ePassporte today that they are unable to continue to provide CakePoker with merchant e-wallet services. We have since confirmed that this situation is not unique to CakePoker and is, in fact, industry wide.
While we are disappointed with this decision, we want to reassure all players that there will be no impact to either your account balances or your account status at Cake. We are pleased to have launched earlier this week with a new payment processor and have already secured alternative processors/eWallets that we will be launching in the weeks to come. We are also in discussions with other providers that will be making their services available in the CakePoker cashier soon. Players are welcome to inquire with Customer Support for more details.
As always, we value your business and will continue to make every effort possible to make your poker experience a great one.
Regards,
The CakePoker Team"
As of 11:02 pm EST, this is what is posted on their Cashier screen.
It seems as though Epassporte will be disallowing all transactions, not just those from American customers. We are located outside of the United States and are getting the same messages. The message from Cake would certainly seem to indicate that this will affect everyone, not just Americans.
Epassporte has not made any kind of an official statement. There are many unanswered questions at this time, such as:
1. Why did they suddenly pull the plug without giving any notice? (if this is in fact the case)
2. What about people who currently have money sitting in Epassporte? (apparently withdrawals are still going through, but this is unconfirmed)
3. How are you supposed to withdraw your money from an online poker site if you used Epassporte to deposit?
Hopefully we will have some answers to your questions soon. Hopefully Epassporte will actually clarify the situation for their customers.
Edit: 12:14 am EST - Epassporte support still claiming "technical difficulties". Withdrawals are apparently still going through fine at this time.
--
Filed Under: UIGEA
| Poker Legal Issues
