Online poker players in the United States will be able to withdraw money from accounts associated with two Internet poker companies recently indicted for bank fraud and money laundering, federal authorities have reported
The U.S. government has agreed to allow PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, two of the three largest Internet poker companies, to resume use of domain names that had been shut down last week.
Under the "domain name use agreements" the companies will be able to reactivate
pokerstars.com and
fulltiltpoker.com to "facilitate the withdrawal of U.S. players' funds held in account with the companies."
The agreement also allows for players outside of the United States to resume playing for "real money."
Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said no player accounts were ever frozen or restrained, and each poker company has been free to reimburse any player's deposited funds.
"In fact, this office expects the companies to return the money that U.S. players entrusted to them, and we will work with the poker companies to facilitate the return of funds to players," Bharara said in a statement
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