Pinnacle Sports shuts off US players

In the aftermath of the Queen’s District Attorney’s Office arrest of 25 Americans across 5 different States associated with illegal sports betting , Pinnacle Sports has clarified its position on accepting play from US-resident punters in an e-mailed statement sent to customers.

The company notified customers that as of November 19, 2012 it will automatically block access to its site from all IP addresses originating from within the United States and has enhanced its geo-location technology to that end.

A TwoPlusTwo forum poster received the statement which said:

“Since January 2007 it has been our intention to not accept wagers from the United States.

“We had taken several measures to assist with this initiative in addition to diligently enforcing country of origin upon account creation. We are now investing in technology to assure that logins into our system do not occur from undesirable jurisdictions.”

Pinnacle Sports is requesting proof of residency in the form of an ID, passport or driver’s licence as well as a current utility bill as proof of address.

It invites customers unable to comply with its conditions to request a withdrawal prior to November 19 saying “”Any pending plays in your account will have action. Once graded, you may return to your account to request any remaining balance. Our normal withdrawal policies will apply.”

At the time of the indictments, it was claimed that three men among those arrested, Brandt England of Las Vegas; George Molsbarger of Santa Monica, California; and Stanley Tomchin of Montecito, California have ownership interests in Pinnacle Sports’ offshore online sports book.

The trio were charged with enterprise corruption, money laundering and conspiracy, with England additionally charged with promoting gambling.