Online Poker showdown between PokerStars and Gordon Vayo comes to quiet, uneventful end.
For the last year and a half, PokerStars and online pro Gordon Vayo have been embroiled in a heated debate that escalated from accusatory emails, to the US District Court of California. Today, the dust is settling as both parties have officially withdrawn their lawsuits against one another.
Vayo originally accused PokerStars of wrongly refusing to pay his $692,460 prize in the 2017 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). PokerStars argued he used a VPN to spoof a location in Canada, when he was really playing illegally from California, forfeiting his position in the tournament.
Online Poker Showdown Flares, Fizzles and Fades
Vayo sued PokerStars for the near $700k owed to him, then immediately dropped his lawsuit when evidence emerged that he’d forged documents in an effort to prove his case. PokerStars countersued Vayo for $280,000 in legal fees the company paid to defend itself in the action, then dropped its case just as suddenly. And with that, it was all over…
How and Why PokerStars Chose its Route
PokerStars could not pay Vayo the $692k because that would open a nasty can of worms, wherein US gaming regulators could accuse the company of accepting US players illegally. Been there, done that! PokerStars would lose all of its recognition in the US if it didn’t fight the claim.
It would certainly seem that Gordon Vayo was 100% guilty of playing the SCOOP tournament illegally from California. The conflagration of evidence against him, showing that he and others worked together to forge documents proving he was in Canada during the event, was overwhelming. And PokerStars paid a whopping $280,000 to fight its case, digging into the investigation and coming up with that evidence.
So, why would PokerStars suddenly be so willing to eat the $280k loss, instead of forcing Vayo to pay them back? That’s a quarter million dollar loss they’re walking away from, and one they should be wholly entitled to. An educated guesser would say it’s to get their name out of the press—but why?
The Less Attention from Regulators, the Better
There are two very good reasons why PokerStars doesn’t want to draw the attention of regulators, especially in North America. First, there’s the most obvious reason people are already talking about, and one we touched on above.
PokerStars is worming its way back into the US market, starting with its acceptance in New Jersey and the recent approval for a license to operate in Pennsylvania. More states are looking to regulate online gambling, and PokerStars wants to be able to get their hands on as much US action as possible. Highlighting that a US player was able to log-in and play in a multi-million-dollar event isn’t in their best interest, whether he was able to collect the prize or not.
The second reason is a more clandestine threat—one they’d surely rather not talk about—and that’s the curious fact that they do accept Canadian players. It’s no secret that online gambling is legal in Canada, and that players can access lots of international sites. But federal law prohibits operators with a physical presence in Canada from offering their service to Canadians without a license.
PokerStars is owned by The Stars Group, headquartered right here in Toronto, Ontario. It does not have a license to accept Canadian online poker players. Those two facts should make it illegal for PokerStars to accept Canadian players. And yet, here we are… for now.
If a provincial government were to put any real thought into that, it could result in a massive lawsuit; one that would knock PokerStars right out of Canada, and potential destroy their reputation as an upright operator in the US.
Avoiding that kind of attention is something PokerStars would be more than willing to give up $280,000 for!
