美国在线扑克的变化

　　2010年4月15日，是美国在线扑克的黑色星期五的日子，是美国在线扑克最糟糕的日子。美国当局宣布，他们将控告该同行业中最大的网站创始人欺骗，贿赂洗钱等罪项。联邦调查局封锁扑克之星，全速扑克和绝对扑克在美国的域名，并冻结它们的银行账户。老扑克之星的创始人，可能面临长达30年的监禁，如果被判有罪的话。

　　这个戏剧性的公告，很容易让人想象到接下来的日子里的非法互联网赌博法案。没有人知道此事件会如何发展，但美国扑克玩家争相尝试收回他们的资金。扑克之星为此不得不发出了一份新闻稿，呼吁其成员之间要保持冷静，声称他们的资金是安全的。但是很多玩家也纷纷发表意见说，他们无法收回他们的资金。为此，在线扑克玩家之间产生了更多的恐慌。

　　起诉书公布几个小时之之后，在线扑克行业立即陷入了阴霾状态。永利度假村，在几个星期前刚宣布与扑克之星签署战略联盟，公开声明终止该协议，从而远离扑克之星“黑色星期五”的倒霉运气。

　　欧洲赌博经营者争先恐后地打击他们的对手，目的是为了争取在第一时间吸引无家可归的美国在线扑克玩家。

　　译文：

　　The Changing Face of Online Poker in the US

　　Last Friday, April 15th, will go down in history as one of the worst days in online poker after US authorities announced that they would be charging eleven men – among them founders of three of the biggest sites in the industry – with fraud, bribery and money laundering. The Feds seized the domain names of Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker in the United States and froze their bank accounts. Men such as Isai Scheinbeg, the 64 year old founder of Poker Stars, could face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.

　　The couple of days following this dramatic announcement were very reminiscent of the days that followed the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act in 2006. Nobody knew where the bomb dropped from. US poker players scrambled to try and withdraw their funds, only to be met with a statement on the websites that the domains had been seized and reminding them that gambling was “illegal”。  Poker Stars put out a press release, calling for calm among its members and reassuring them that their funds were safe and in a separate bank account.  However, the bottom line was that many players reported that they were unable to withdraw their funds – leading to even more panic.

　　Within a few hours of the announcement about the indictments, the after shocks were already being felt in the industry.  Wynn Resorts, which only a few weeks ago announced the signing of a strategic alliance with Poker Stars, publicly terminated that agreement, thereby distancing itself from Poker Stars in the hope that the bad luck following this site would not rub off on the Nevada based business.

　　European gambling operators scrambled to beat their rivals in a bid to see who could start attracting homeless US poker players first.