November 3, 2009 2:13pm Update- Echecks have gone down again for three of the major poker rooms: Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet and Full Tilt Poker. The reason is still unknown. Currently the only report is that the major echeck processor for these poker rooms is experiencing technical difficulties.
PokerStars.com is still accepting echecks. We checked this morning and it appears that echecks are still available.
Check back for further updates.
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June 9, 2009 3:55pm Update - ECHECKS are currently working again at Absolutepoker.com. I tested a $100 deposit with no problems. All other sites are still having issues. Stemming from the US DOJ crack down on USA poker deposits we have just learned that the US District of New York is the cause of the seized $30 million in funds.
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Arguably one of the most popular ways to deposit into online poker sites in the USA, Instant Echecks, took a tumble today across all major online poker sites. The cause has yet to be known but has affected all sites that use echeck poker deposit options.
The first to get hit with the downed echecks was Pokerstars. Upon trying to deposit at Pokerstars players were confronted with this error message shown below. Support is bismal in their efforts to calm down players and simply say they are working on fixing the problem. As many US players know by now, when something like this goes down it could be hours or never before it is implemented again.
Upon reviewing this problem at Pokerstars, Badbeatjackpot instantly went to Full Tilt Poker only to find they were suffering from the same problem. Next stop, Doylesroom, and yes they too were affected. This seems to be a widespread problem. After that Absolutepoker was hit with echecks going down. They did not even know about it until BBJ warned them.
Many may not remember but right after the UIGEA passed this deposit option became unavailable. Only after many months did it return under a limited basis. It quickly became the easiest and most convenient way for the casual player to play real money USA poker. It has suffered brief problems since then but never nationwide.
BBJ will keep an eye on this situation as it occurs. For now we are urging players to use ECHECKS at Absolutepoker.com as they are still functioning there, for now at least.
As the story unfolds there are many interested parties waiting to see if this truly was a processor going down (it would have to be a huge processor to affect all sites) or if this is a crack down by the banks and the UIGEA.
