Blanca Games is well known for being the owner and operator of the CEREUS Poker Network, which includes two of the most popular online poker services in the world: Absolute Poker and UB.com.
In recent days, it has been reported that Absolute Poker and UB.com will liquidate assets so they can reimburse both international and United States based players.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is charged with overseeing both of these online poker services. They released a statement stating that they have been in “close and regular” talks with Blanca Games Inc. regarding the reimbursement of players. To the surprise of many, it appears that discussions have been taking place since Black Friday. In April 2011, both Absolute Poker and UB.com had their domains seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a result of actions taken by the United States Department of Justice.
Before players can be paid back, the plan must be approved by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Absolute Poker and UB.com were not the only online poker services affected by Black Friday. However, they have been extremely slow in determining how to best reimburse players. This is in stark contrast to PokerStars which quickly paid players back and continued its international operations. Full Tilt Poker is currently out of operation and could be purchased by the Bernard Tapie Group in the near future. At this time FTP owes hundreds of millions of dollars to players all over the world.
It is believed that players from these two sites are owed in the ballpark of $50 million.
Many players in the CEREUS Poker Network were based in the United States. In turn, traffic has been reduced to roughly 1/3 of peak activity. While they attempt to work out the details of player reimbursements, affiliates have been left out in the cold. Many are still owed several months of payments and are unsure of whether they will ever see this money.
With so much uncertainty, it is safe to say that most affiliates will avoid CEREUS Poker Network sites in the near future – even if they are in position to refer international players.
What are your thoughts on the reimbursement plan laid out by Blanca Games? Discuss this detail in-depth in our latest Blanca Games forum thread.