Bank withholds $60,000 MicroMillions score from poker player

RuiDeck finished in third place of the PokerStars MicroMillions Main Event, he won almost $60,000. He quit his job as a waiter, but his bank is now withholding his winnings, because it allegedly came from illegal gambling.

Italian poker player "RuiDeck" finished in third place in the $22 buy-in MicroMillions Main Event on March 29 in a field of 59,648 players, for which he received $59,480.

The player, who works as a waiter in Dresden, quit his job after the huge score, but his bank, Unicredit has freezed the winnings, claiming it came from illegal gambling.

RuiDeck talked about the situation to ItaliaPokerClub:

"At first they told me that I needed to wait a week before I can withdraw the money, because the laws against money laundering make it necessary to check any transaction above €10,000. Following this, the bank has told me that I cannot withdraw the money, because of the state laws, which consider online poker illegal."

The player contacted PokerStars, and while the company has stated that they can send an official letter explaining that he won his money in a legal game, but they can't directly contact the bank. According to PokerStars, RuiDeck won his money legitimately according to the laws of the European Union.

"I found myself in an absurde situation. I registered my account correctly, and now I feel like I've been scammed. I don't know whether PokerStars or the bank is right. One thing is for certain, I can't access my money, and even worse, I don't have a job yet."

The German online gambling legislation is very complicated, it is often different in every state. According to experts, the German banks stance is worrying, because other banks could follow suit and a case like this could threaten German players, who often don't really know whether they can play legally under state laws.

The online poker laws of the Free State of Saxony are for example in no way compatible with the laws of the European Union, the European Court has to get involved and sort out the German laws to avoid a domino-effect.

Until this is done however, banks will continue to freeze winnings, because they don't want to take responsibility for possibly violating money laundering laws.

Image courtesy of casinoscamreport.com