Taken from wiki
Prior to his professional poker career, Boyd was the president and co-founder of the PokerSpot online poker cardroom, which operated from May 2000 to late 2001. When PokerSpot ceased operations, the cardroom did not refund $400,000 of player funds. A substantial controversy has arisen from actions taken by Boyd and the staff of PokerSpot during this time.
According to Boyd, in January 2001 PokerSpot's credit card processor was late in transferring player funds to PokerSpot. As a result, PokerSpot did not have all the player funds that were being used at their site. Eventually this resulted in PokerSpot being shorted 6 weeks of credit card deposits, which PokerSpot could not cover. Players were unable to cash out, and eventually the site shut down. [8]
When financial problems began with PokerSpot, players who called PokerSpot customer support requesting withdrawal of their deposited funds were told many different stories, ranging from a 30-business-day hold to a promise that their checks were "already in the mail." In an online newsgroup in November 2002, Boyd admitted that players had been deceived. Boyd stated that he told his Customer Support staff to, "... spin it so that the players don't feel the need to make a mad rush on the cardroom OR the need to tell everyone they know that PokerSpot [is] going to hell in a handbasket. Spin it so that the players continue to just keep on playing." [9]
Boyd also angered many players by regularly sending e-mails and posting on the rec.gambling.poker newsgroup in 2000 and 2001, stating that PokerSpot would "make good on all pending cashouts." [10] As of September 2010, this promise has not been fulfilled.
There is a disagreement regarding a potential PokerSpot buyout offer that might or might not have refunded all money deposited by former PokerSpot players. Although there is agreement that a buyout deal was discussed, there is disagreement over the identity of the online casino offering to buy the PokerSpot software and assets. Russ Boyd, who has never named a particular buyer, claims that the buyer reneged on an offer that would have returned all of the players' money, and that he refused the new deal in order to pursue other buyout options, which later also fell through. [11] In a newsgroup posting in 2007, Russ's brother Robert Boyd claimed that CyberWorld Group/Golden Palace reneged after hiring away PokerSpot's lead developer.[12]
Prior to Robert Boyd's posting, Burton Ritchie claimed that Boyd reneged on the deal (which he says would have refunded all outstanding player debt and paid an additional $200,000 for Boyd himself) because the deal contained a non-competitive clause, effectively forcing Boyd to leave the internet casino industry for a period of 2 or 3 years. [13] These claims have never been legally settled.
In January 2005, Boyd claimed on his blog to have already refunded a small amount of money to some former PokerSpot players. [14] This claim, however, has not been confirmed.
When Boyd was the chip leader for a short time at the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker, he was asked if he would pay back the PokerSpot players with any prize money that he won. Boyd said, "If I win this tournament, I will pay off all the players. Anything less than that, I can't do it." [12] Boyd placed 12th in the tournament, earning $80,000. [15]
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