Chris Moneymaker, a famous poker Hall of Famer, aims to sue PayPal. This is regarding the seizure of $12,000 from his account. (Image Source: PayPal.com)
Chris Moneymaker, a popular poker star, has stated that he aims to sue PayPal, the well-known online processing giant.
This is over the seizure of $12,000 from his account. According to Moneymaker, this money was linked to a fantasy football league that took place during the NFL season of 2021. In addition, the player has made a plea to other players of poker to help with his legal action against PayPal for its policies against gambling.
Even though this poker celeb has not made an official filing of the lawsuit yet, he has appointed Eric Benzamochan to be his attorney. This attorney successfully defended Todd Witteles in his lawsuit against Mike Postle, which was for a sum of $330 million. He also earned a legal fee of $27,000 for the case. In a press release issued by Benzamochan, Moneymaker explained how his online account was frozen for six months. He further stated that after the six months elapsed, he got a notification from PayPal that his $12,000 was confiscated because he breached the company’s anti-gambling rules.
Reports from Gamblers about PayPal Ban
There have been numerous reports from gamblers about getting banned from PayPal due to activities related to gambling including those playing live poker. However, in most cases, they are able to get their cash before the accounts are closed. FinCEN is the network in the US that is responsible for maintaining the boundary for reporting-requirement. If a transaction surpasses $10,000 regardless of if it a combined or single sum, a report is required by the network.
There is a huge chance that the amount was not exceeded by other players, which is why they were able to their money. The company seized Moneymaker’s funds because it surpassed the $10,000 mark and activated FinCEN’s reporting requirement boundary. But the network does not give the banking service that reports the case the authority to confiscate funds the way Moneymaker’s funds were.
PayPal’s Anti-gambling Policies
PayPal used to be one of the most renowned payment options for gamblers before 2006. However, things changed when the UIGEA was passed, and things changed after the US government took action against PayPal. Since then, PayPal became an anti-gambling company and initially refused to process transactions in states like Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey, where online gambling was legal. But later on, it went entered into an agreement with specific individual providers. Later, the company accepted to offer services for the WSOP, Nevada, in 2015. To date, many of the company’s terms of service are still against many forms of gambling.
The lawsuit by Moneymaker does not involve the policies of PayPal and its authority to ban his account. Instead, it is regarding the seizure of his $12,000 since the rules of PayPal say nothing about confiscation, according to him. Moneymaker stated that the lawyers would have the final say but referred to the action of PayPal as bullying and theft. He further went on to say that the lawsuit was more about the ethics and less about the money involved, even though $12,000 was no paltry sum.
Having spent 17 years collaborating with PokerStars, Chris Moneymaker finally bid them farewell as he ends his role as an ambassador for the organization.
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