I got this weird letter from Hustler. It was dated November 15, but note the postmark on the envelope was December 13:
This was highly inconvenient for me, as I was away from home for awhile during the second half of December, and had to make a special effort to get down to Hustler before 12/31. Could they really just close my box that fast, and push it into California unclaimed property?
And was it really true that all of the boxes were closing, not just mine?
The notice was definitely insufficient, even if you want to believe their November 15th letter date, California Gambling Law requires 6 month, according to section 1514(b):
(b) If a business association has in its records an address for an apparent owner of the contents of, or the proceeds of sale of the contents of, a safe deposit box or other safekeeping repository described in subdivision (a), and the records of the business association do not disclose the address to be inaccurate, the business association shall make reasonable efforts to notify the owner by mail, or, if the owner has consented to electronic notice, electronically, that the owner’s contents, or the proceeds of the sale of the contents, will escheat to the state pursuant to this section. The business association shall give notice not less than 6 months and not more than 12 months before the time the contents, or the proceeds of the sale of the contents, become reportable to the Controller in accordance with this chapter.
Hustler manager Shaun Yaple explained some more, in response to my tweet:
https://twitter.com/chaosagent22/status/1740917695577764217
https://twitter.com/chaosagent22/status/1741037613342142790
https://twitter.com/The_Three_Bs/status/1741091388467601892
https://twitter.com/The_Three_Bs/status/1741105128755872217
https://twitter.com/The_Three_Bs/status/1741109010906898550
So that's the situation. Apparently the federal government updated their anti money laundering (AML) requirements, which then triggered California to do the same. This created some kind of increased regulatory risk (fines?) upon California cardrooms offering boxes, and all but Commerce decided to shut the boxes down rather than take the risk.
Still not sure why Hustler had this weirdness regarding notification. They have a notification in the room with the boxes claiming the deadline is/was 9/30/23, and then they sent me this letter dated 11/15/23, yet not actually sent until December 13. Then I was given (illegally) a short deadline to get my stuff out, when it was actually 6 months.
I wish I knew about the 6 month thing before I rushed down there yesterday. I even played while there and had a bad session. Sad!
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