A local police department in Maryland is celebrating after participating in a federal sting operation which shut down major internet gambling operations. The Anne Arundel Police Department received a check for $470,000 after helping the feds seize online gaming companies that processed over $33 million dollars’ worth of transactions through the undercover processor. The money comes from a case handled by federal investigators in Baltimore and the operation was suitably named “Operation Texas Hold’em.”
William Winter, the agent in charge of the Department of Homeland Security in Baltimore, made a statement earlier regarding the seizure and explained how the feds set up a phony processing company and allowed the undercover agents contact with the online gaming operators. It’s illegal in the United States of America for companies to accept and/or process gaming transactions; which gave the feds ample reason to go undercover.
Through the sting operation the federal agents negotiated contracts with online gaming operators and began processing funds for the companies. The agents could easily track the payments to numerous operations and bank accounts in the United States and abroad. The accounts were seized in the recent bust and the monies were shared among the agencies that participated in the sting. The amount given to the Anne Arundel Police Department was based on the number of agents from the force that helped take down the online gaming operators.
The Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold made it clear that this was the biggest asset distribution in the history of the county, and the police department will use their share of the funds to buy equipment needed for the force. The police chief, James Teare, also made a statement regarding their share of the funds by saying:
“This is huge, especially in these economic times; we just went through a very tough budget where we’re getting vehicles taken away. This infuses money to be able [to buy] vehicles, weapons that are less lethal and to do training that is much needed for these officers to do their job.”
Some industry insiders believe this is just the beginning. It’s obvious that the government in the USA is serious about taking down online poker and this is proof. Time will tell how many operators will shift and take their business out of the USA, and as of now the bigger names in online poker have already done so. Poker players in the United States can still play online at selected sites, but with operations like these going on who knows what is in store for online poker sites in the near future.
For those of you who had your Quicktender – UseMyWallet Funds seized. This is the case that led to those funds being seized.