Close on the heels of its flagship poker room, Full Flush Poker, announcing its retreat from the three states with regulated online poker, the Equity Poker Network (EPN) has decided to require all of its member rooms to follow suit.
It was just a few days ago that Full Flush Poker issued a statement informed its players and the poker public that it would no longer operate in New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada, the three states in the U.S. with legal, regulated online gaming. That statement, posted Thursday, read as follows:
FullFlushPoker.com (“FFP”), flagship online poker room of the Equity Poker Network (“EPN”), announced today that effective immediately, they have withdrawn the full suite of online real-money gaming options for players residing in the regulated U.S. States of New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
FFP operates with its players foremost in mind, and fair play for all customers is paramount. With these principles in mind, the recreational online poker site has decided to stop serving players who reside in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware due to the availability of a regulated poker market in those states.
This decision takes effect today with players in these regulated U.S. markets set to receive email notification of the change in policy, and confirmation that their account will be closed. Players with existing FFP accounts who reside in these three states will have access to them to close out their balances. FFP will work quickly to return player funds to those affected.
“We have taken this action in order to ensure that the vast majority of our customers, who do not reside in New Jersey, Nevada, or Delaware, continue to have access to our site and to enjoy playing the game that they love without disruption or inconvenience,” said a Full Flush Poker Spokesperson.
“Our priority still remains our players, and we’re proud to provide our loyal customers from around the globe with a fun and entertaining poker environment that they can trust, and that operates with the highest values of fairness, integrity and security.”
Over the weekend, EPN followed suit, making a total withdrawal from the three states. The network issued a press release, essentially parroting what was in the Full Flush announcement:
Our players are our number one priority, but playing fair is also central to our ethos. We believe this decision is in the best interests of the Network and its Operators to add and adhere to this Rule, given the availability of regulated poker in these U.S. states,” said an EPN Spokesperson.
We take great pride in delivering our recreational poker community with reliable access to our EPN poker rooms. Our goal is to ensure that they continue to enjoy a fun and safe time at EPN’s tables with every confidence and trust.
Haley Hintze of FlushDraw.net states that the limited U.S. withdrawal of EPN (it still offers real money poker in most of the rest of the country) is directly related to the cease-and-desist letter New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) and the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office sent to six online poker affiliates in April, warning them that they are in violation of state law for promoting poker rooms that are not licensed in New Jersey.
The Winning Poker Network (WPN) also announced a similar pull out from New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada earlier this month.