Chan Poker, the once flashy online poker site located at www.chanpoker.com, is the latest victim of the UIGEA legislation that was passed in late 2006. Chan Poker has announced its closure effective August 21 but has assured players that withdrawal requests will be honored and processed as quickly as possible.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act banned the transfer of funds from financial institutions to any Internet gambling site with a few notable exceptions (such as horse racing and online lotteries). Unfortunately, online poker was not named as one of the exceptions and this caused a lot of strain in the industry. A lot of gambling sites, particularly those that are public, have stopped taking in U.S. players and that resulted in tremendous loss of profit.

Poker buffs will remember Chan Poker as being fronted by the legendary Johnny Chan whose claim to fame includes ten World Series of Poker bracelets (and an energy drink aptly named, “All In”). The site was launched in 2006 to much excitement but the fervor didn’t last very long, thanks to the wet blankets who engineered the legislative event.

The poker site ceased operations on a Thursday, August 21, 2008. The site’s final daily freeroll was held August 19, 2008 and today, the site’s poker clients have been disabled. The site has promised to continue accepting withdrawals for as long as possible but has urged members to submit requests at the soonest possible time.

Chan Poker is actively seeking a partner (also known as another online poker site) who is willing to buy its database of players as well as honor the player’s non-monetary point balances. I think it’s safe to say that Chan Poker’s players should be able to find another Internet poker haven in no time.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 am and is filed under Online Poker, Poker Industry News, Poker Players, WSOP Bracelet Winners, World Series of Poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.