Feds Start Dragnet For Nefarious Online Poker Pushers

Hey, I used to knock Instapundit for saying this, but I guess I can't help myself: Gee, I'm glad we don't have a fucking war to fight or anything.

Two of NetTeller's executives charged with "handling billions of dollars in illegal gambling procedes." They've left the US and one imagines they're not coming back.

NetTeller, for those of you who don't know, isn't a poker company per se; rather, it's a transfer service by which you can put money into a poker account. Most credit card companies reject the transfer of money into poker accounts by absolute policy (too many people lose money gambling, and then claim their money was criminally transferred by an identity thief, costing these companies a lot of money; and sure, it really happens, but the biggest losses are from people falsely claiming credit card fraud). And thus NetTeller exists as buffer. You put your money into NetTeller, then NetTeller allows you to put money into a poker account.

Theoretically you could use NetTeller for any money-transfer purpose, but, who are we kidding? It's there for poker. And maybe porn.

Meanwhile, the DoJ is demanding that the world's biggest banks provide information on all this dirty poker money as part of its stepped-up of efforts at rooting out terrorist financing of Omaha 8 tournaments.

Thanks to Warden.

PS: Given how narrow the Democrats' victory was in Virginia-- does anyone doubt this nanny-state douchebaggery cost the GOP the Senate?

My friend steve_in_hb, who was just finally coming around to the idea that maybe Republicans weren't those puritan scolds the left paints them as, now hates the party more than Indiana Jones hates Nazis.

posted by Ace at 02:16 PM

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