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.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.