One of two things happened on Monday when it was revealed that ten more online gaming sites had their domain names seized by the DOJ including two small online poker rooms: Either the DOJ specifically targeted TruePoker and DoylesRoom despite the fact that the investigation would likely cost much more than these sites could ever pay in fines, or TruePoker and DoylesRoom were simply caught up in the snare of the larger ranging investigation into the sportsbook BetEd.com and its subsidiaries.

If True Poker and Doyles Room were specifically targeted than we are likely looking at the end of online poker in the US for the immediate future, and virtually no US-friendly online poker room would be safe. This would explain why on Tuesday Bodog Poker preempted the US Government by switching to Bodog.eu, basically eliminating the government’s ability to seize their domain and hold it hostage like it has with PokerStars and Full Tilt –although their bank accounts and other assets would still be on the table.

In my opinion, the more likely reason for True Poker and Doyles Room being swept up in the latest round of seizures and indictments is that they were ancillary players in the investigation. It would be analogous to the DOJ taking down a mob boss and in the process uncovering evidence about a small time jewel thief; they are not simply going to let the jewel thief go even though they are after a bigger fish.

That said I would still keep only the amount I needed to play on any US-friendly online poker room until things settle down.

Tags: Bank Accounts, Bodog Poker, doj, Domain Names, doylesroom, Full tilt, Gaming Sites, Immediate Future, Indictments, Jewel Thief, Mob Boss, Online Poker Rooms, Poker Room, PokerStars, Small Time, Snare, Taking Chances, Time Jewel, True Poker, Truepoker

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 26th, 2011 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.