Sportsbook Poker Leaves US Poker Market

May 5th, 2011 by | No Comments

There is yet more fallout after the Department of Justice’s aggressive move on online poker rooms April 15. It’s being reported that PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com, both Merge Network gambling sites, will be shutting down play by new U.S. players at the site.

The move is directly related to what’s become known as “Black Friday”, the day when the DOJ issued indictments of 11 individuals associated with online poker (including the operators of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker) and seized domain names of several online poker rooms.

Following the indictments, many online poker rooms announced their voluntary withdrawal from the U.S. online poker market. It seems that the two Merge Network poker sites are the next to follow suit.

According to most reports, the sites will close on May 1, but will continue to allow current players to play with real money on the site; no new U.S. registrations will be accepted. Sportsbook has been a major player in the U.S. market for more than a decade now.