iPoker has apparently decided that they are at risk by not doing enough to thwart Americans from secretly playing on their network -- and they are fingering one large affiliate for causing most of the problem!
There is an affiliate known as iPokerVIP, and is also sometimes known as just PokerVIP.
iPoker is demanding that all players who signed up to ANY skin through iPokerVIP go through a rigorous verification process. This process is known as "KYC", which stands for "Know Your Customer".
iPoker sent out a memo to all skins, demanding that they perform a KYC verification for any iPokerVIP/PokerVIP customer:
They had just four days to complete this verification (May 16-20), and all accounts not verified in this fashion were supposedly frozen on May 20th.
This was said NOT to affect previously-verified accounts, nor did it affect accounts that weren't signed up through iPokerVIP.
iPokerVIP was also supposedly facilitating both "secret rakeback" and "backdoor cashouts" for their players on iPoker.
Secret rakeback is extra rakeback beyond what is allowed by the network. The extra rakeback is sent to the player via player-to-player transfer. Secret rakeback is typically offered so an affiliate can "poach" a player from another affiliate, by offering that player better (and unauthorized) rakeback.
Backdoor cashouts involve the skin itself cashing out the player, rather than it being done through the network's cashier. This is not only faster, but it also enables American players to cash out, as they are often playing under phony identities and cannot cash out in the traditional fashion. The skin subtracts the cashout amount from the player balance, and then pays the player directly. This would seem like a victimless crime, but again it encourages poaching, and also enables Americans to secretly play there (putting iPoker at risk).
In early May, iPoker ended all player-to-player transfers in order to combat secret rakeback, and many affiliates were claiming it was mostly aimed at iPokerVIP.
iPokerVIP is also accused of trying to get other affiliates in trouble for doing exactly what they're doing -- secret rakeback. Some have accused them of sending "spy" players to other affiliates known to offer secret rakeback. Once these "spies" secure the secret rakeback through other affiliates, they give the proof to iPokerVIP, who then reports them. This is done despite the fact that iPokerVIP itself also has secret rakeback. Some affiliates have said they were targeted because they offered better secret rakeback deals than iPokerVIP did!
iPokerVIP is said to now own Pokertube.
iPokerVIP's owner (Jamie Nevin) apparently got banned from 2+2 at one point for sending PM spam. However, they have since come to terms and now pay a lot of money for ads on 2+2.
Anyway, if you have an iPoker account through iPokerVIP, and you're an American, you might very well be fucked. I don't know anyone personally who has been suspended, and the May 20th deadline has passed, but it's very possible that a lot of accounts were already suspended and I just haven't heard.
What a mess.
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