Online poker company accused of stealing players’ money

The Takeaway

The Justice Department made a claim against Full Tilt Poker on Tuesday, saying the website, where millions of members played poker for money, defrauded thousands of people out of more than $300 million. On the site, players created accounts from which they would add or subtract funds during games. The site assured them that they could close their accounts and withdraw the money stored there at anytime, but now federal  prosecutors  are saying Full Tilt’s managers had been taking money from the accounts since April of 2007. Online gambling is a $60 billion a year industry, and is not subject to much regulation. Faraz Jaka, a Full Tilt Poker player  whose username is “The Toilet,” is estimated to have won over $814,000 playing online poker. He says this sort of fraud will continue happening as long as the industry is illegal and unregulated.

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