Mamma Always said I was Sassy....

NO, IG doesnt rant ala fellow blogger Waffles (thanks sweetie for sending me some blogger love). And as patient as she can be at the poker table she tends to be a "I want what I want when I want it type". And that means NOW!!! So rather then sit and fiddle why Rome burns she tried every ploy known to mankind to solve the Neteller Dilemma.

A very good friend in Canada was willing to do a peer to peer with me and then withdraw it off and mail me a check. I trust Carol as she trusted me this past summer when I helped her avoid the exchange rate on a withdrawal for her Vegas bankroll . I knew Neteller was suspending the Neteller accounts of foreigners who took a peer to peer froma US citizen and then immediately transferred it right back out onto a poker room, so that was too obvious. So a check or money order with me absorbing the fees and exchange rate seemed to be the best route to allow my Casinowhoring friend to safely "launder" my money. To no avail... Fuckers at Neteller disabled the cancel button to cancel my PENDING eft withdrawal and have since suspended peer to peer transactions. Seems a certain forum advocated this method and their was a huge increase in foreign players aiding and abetting their American comrades in arms. DRATS FOILED AGAIN...

Last week was a week of just overall Life Tilt. For everything good that happened there was an equal and opposite bad thing that happened. Minor Car Tilt (again, now resolved), Work Tilt ( i got sprung and am now working at home as of friday and Im getting a bonus in two weeks), Poker Tilt in a full moon sucko-out on IG way early in the week only to be rectified by a tourney win Friday nite over Lex (BIG TAI) whose game I really respect, Bankroll Tilt (aka the Neteller debacle) and Family and Friend Tilt (more then I care to go in on). This left me feeling lethargic and helpless and as I mentioned in my earlier blog I let loose and cried not just Saturday but Sunday too. Thank goodness I watched no sappy movies or I would have been blotting all over the place. And I must confess, I cried when Tony Dungy got his good dang super bowl win!!!

I even did a drastic change and chopped off my long hair which I had painstakingly grown out. I finally decided that my sister was right. I dont have the funds ala Courtney Cox or Jennifer Aniston for the spectacular Blow Outs that leaves ones hair straight and shiny and perfect. Nope, I was pulling it back in a pony tail way too often and frankly I think it made me look older. So, I changed hairstylists too (as my old one hated bangs) and went chin length layered bob ala Sandra Bullock (or is it James now) from the December 2006 cover of Glamour sans the highlights right now.. I had showed Snake the cover Friday nite and got a "Do you have that top she's wearing?" . Without batting an eyelash (well maybe a few). I smirked " Of course I do and I fill it out a hell of a lot better the she does". Im a fan of the INC blouses at Macy's. they appeal to my hippy roots and the plunging necklines do wonders for my cleavage. I got year round Tilly tops as Snake calls them. Coupled with my new do, I got my eye brows waxed and god forbid I even mention this.... my lip for only the second time (IG was mortified Thanksgiving when momma IG pointed out some dark hairs springing from above the corners of her mouth). No bikini wax, as I had just had a regroom a few weeks prior.

So Sunday AM, after trying to wrest my funds from Neteller I took myself out for Pad Thai noodles with Mamma IG and I fessed up about why I looked like hell (although she loved my hair)... I told her about my bankroll issue. That got her to say... Maybe you should just play live now and get the rest of your money out and quit online. Your on a computer all the time with work. And for a minute I almost thought about quiting online poker. In fact, I may just do it yet. Adirondack Poker League is on hiatus but the Albany Poker League is gearing up. Games every Thursday and Sunday. Plus I'm doing a deep stack tourney in Amsterdam, NY (not Pauly's and Change100's Amsterdam) the last weekend of February. I so wanted to go up and do Katitude's weekend in Toronto (as I could visit the above mentioned Carol (DCIassassin) who lives in Scarborough and Sandy (Poker Princess) and Kevin (Tilter) who live in Toronto. Alas Neteller foiled those plans as I expected to have the money but the 9th/10th.

In the grand scheme of things I'm not a poor college student who has been using their roll to pay the rent and eat something other then Ramen noodles. The $1946.20 isnt even huge compared to some of the big sports bettors or poker pros who are caught in the crosshairs. But I worked damn hard for that money. Its about 71 hours of overtime which I can earn in about 4-5 weeks legitimately with 401k match etc. But It was money I was earmarking for bigger buy-ins which Im ready for I believe and Vegas.... It was money for WSOP sats etc.

So i trolled the forums and on some sports betting site I found an address for some regulatory agency on the Isle of Mann and filed a complaint against Neteller. And I got a response. Not just one but two.

The first reply with my original email attached (which is not as carefully worded with Iakaris words as is my usual habit) follows:


Dear Lori,

thank you for your email however I have to primarily advise that the Gambling Control Commissioners is not the regulatory authority of Neteller.
Your email has however been forwarded to the Department of Trade and Industry who will respond to you on this matter.

Kind regards


Derek

Derek P Cannon
Gambling Inspector
Isle of Man Gambling Control Commissioners
Oaseiryn Kiarrooghys Ellan Vannin
Homefield
88 Woodbourne Road
Douglas
Isle of Man
IM2 3AP
Telephone +44 (0) 1624 694303 Fax +44 (0) 1624 613777
e-mail derek.cannon@gaming.gov.im
website www.gov.im/gambling
From: Lori Christina [mailto:Lchrist4@nycap.rr.com] Sent: 04 February 2007 22:48To: DHA, Gaming CommissionSubject: Neteller holding on to USA residents funds

I would like to file a complaint against Neteller the online payment processer which is a publicly traded British company or was till they suspended trading in the stock. The FAQs they list on their site leave a lot to be desired. I asked for a withdrawal of my funds that had been sitting in neteller since October 2006 in the amount of $1946.20 on January 17th 2007 and to date I have not seen the funds show up in my account.

They have not addressed the issue of when funds may be released short of a cagey... your money is being held in trust. I would like financial disclosure of where these funds are. Are they stuck in the labyrinth of the banking system. Did they lose the ability to interact with my bank account. What is the hold up.

Expect to be inundated with requests similar to this.

I sincerely doubt the US Dept of Justice has asked that the funds of US resident accounts be siezed as has been rumored in the Washington Post. If so Neteller has to disclose that immediately I believe by law.

Regards

Lori Christina
USA

And Derek turned out to be a pretty cool cat (wonder if he lunches with Lee).. He forwarded my email and I got this reply:


Thank you for your e-mail in relation to Neteller.
We are informed by Neteller that it is in continuing discussions with the US authorities
Neteller have advised us that it is their top priority to return funds to its US members and to achieve this they are working with the US authorities to determine a mechanism to do so
We are also advised by Neteller that unfortunately until such time as this has been achieved Netellers US members will continue to experience delays


Bill Mummery

Head of e-Gaming Development
Department of Trade & Industry
Isle of Man Government
Hamilton House
Peel Road
Douglas
IM1 5EP

Tel : +44 1624 682307
Mob : +44 7624 494113
Fax : +44 1624 687171

bill.mummery@dti.gov.im

A ray of hope maybe, Im not walking in sunshine yet, in fact the fascist state I live in probably will find some way to seize it. At this point I dont care about an EFT withdrawal Send me a check written on a bank in Cyprus for goodness sake and Ill find some bank to cash it even if I have to pay a foreign check fee. It would be friggin worth it.