Online Poker and Texas Holdem

Source: Poker Pages A New York judge set Feb. 14 as the date for a preliminary hearing for John Lefebvre, 55, and Stephen Lawrence, 46, who in 1999 co-founded NETELLER, the popular e-wallet used by many online poker players. The pair were arrested Jan. 15 and charged with laundering billions of dollars in illegal gambling profits for handling transactions between US customers and online gambling sites while they were NETELLER execs….. Lefebvre’s lawyer, Vincent Marella, said Lefebvre plans to contest all charges against him. Last week, Lawrence also confirmed that he will contest the allegations brought against him.

Excellent post on The Pokerletter Life explaining the new online gambling law.

The two directors, Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre, both Canadian citizens and founders of NETeller, were travelling separately in US when detained by authorities on Monday, 15 January.

A statement issued today by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) says the Isle of Man-based group began processing internet gambling transactions in approximately July 2000. The operation allowed gambling companies to transfer money collected from US customers to bank accounts outside the United States.

The DoJ cites NETeller’s own 2005 annual report to note that the company at the time provided payment services to more than 80% of worldwide gaming merchants. The DoJ says that in 2005 alone, NETeller processed over $7.3bn, with 95% of its revenue derived from money transfers involving internet gambling companies.

The statement also notes NETeller’s declaration that in the first half of 2006 it processed $5.1bn in financial transactions, with around 85% of its revenue during that period derived from individuals in North America. Three quarter of its North American revenue was generated in the US.

‘Both the operation of an internet gambling operation and the transferring of the proceeds from these businesses overseas are illegal under United States law,’ says the DoJ.

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You would think not, since they are a large company with more than $5B in market cap. But I’ve never come across many of the hand scenarios that I’ve seen on Party Poker while playing at home games with my buddies. How often do you see quads beat full house kings and straight flushes beat full houses? I’ve never seen that happen in real life. It would be interesting to take all their poker game data and analyze it for statistical anomalies.