US Poker Site goes offline, Full Flush Community Wary

For the last decade, there have been strong cases made for the regulation of internet poker in the United States. It didn’t become an option until late 2011, at which time three states – Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey – chose to move ahead with legislation to legalize US online poker sites within their respective jurisdictions. For the other 47 states, no regulation means no protection for players who choose to access offshore websites.

For the most part, playing online card games at overseas operators is viewed as a safe practice for Americans, so long as they stick to well-established, reputable operators. But recent developments have raised deep concerns among the US online poker community that, without regulation, no one may be truly safe.

Full Flush Poker Goes Offline

On Friday, September 30, 2016, Full Flush Poker, the flagship of the Equity Poker Network (EPN) and one of the top choices for US poker since 2013, unexpectedly went offline. There was no prior notice of the operators intent to unplug its services, temporarily or otherwise.

Then a few days ago, a message suddenly appeared on the face of the Full Flush Poker website, (which was coincidentally published via a WordPress template) explaining that some sort of software modification was required, and that updates would be provided daily until the situation is resolved. The full text reads as follows:

Important notice

We are in the process of updating our gaming solutions to offer a new, more exciting platform to meet the needs of our players and an ever changing industry. We will have updates on this change each day for you, and we apologize for any inconveniences we have caused during this period.

A support email address, live chat button, phone number (not toll free), and email notification input box were provided. The same message was posted on the operator’s social media networks, Facebook and Twitter.

It’s now been almost two weeks since the US online poker site went offline.

Based on the information provided, Full Flush seems to be blaming the downtime on a desire or need to leave EPN for a new “gaming solution”, although there’s no indication what the new software platform or poker network might be. And based on the length of time the website has been down, it begs to question whether Full Flush knows the answer, either.

Unfortunately, it also raises dire concerns that Full Flush may never return. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a US poker site vanished into thin air.

Full Flush Poker License Revoked?

According to one source, Full Flush Poker lost its license from the Curacao Gaming Commission, and the domain name is now available for purchase. We’ve been unable to find any evidence to back up the latter claim, but the licensing issue seems legitimate.

Last Thursday, one user complained that 3 days had passed with no updates, questioning the “trustworthy” nature of the US online poker site. Another user, John Smith, chimed in:

“To request a license typically take 2 weeks or even more”

To that, Full Flush confirmed the intended transition to a new license with this reply:

“That is correct John Smith. We are also working on new the platform integration. As many of you might know this procedure might take several days to be fully completed.”

While the operator is staying in touch with players via social networks, rumors are clearly striking fear in the hearts of Full Flush Poker members who have been cut off from access their account balances, with no real guarantees – not from a legal standpoint, anyway – that they’ll ever be able to retrieve those funds.