- Poker rooms have until Monday, May 20 to perform KYC procedures on all accounts liked to affiliate iPokerVIP.
- Investigation linked to players playing from “banned territories.”
iPokerVIP, a prominent online poker affiliate, was officially tied to the ongoing investigation on the iPoker network Wednesday.
In an email sent to all iPoker licensees and card room managers, seen by pokerfuse, all players referred by iPokerVIP must complete KYC (“know your customer”) verification by the beginning of next week.
The network-wide decision is to ensure “that Poker accounts are not coming from any banned territory,” the formal letter states.
Poker rooms have until Monday, May 20 to confirm all accounts. No accounts are currently locked; however, any accounts that have not been through a KYC procedure by this date will be frozen.
KYC procedures require the poker room to verify a player’s location, usually involving a request for documentation. This procedure normally only occurs at the point of first withdrawal.
Since May 1, the network has been conducting an investigation which involved turning off player-to-player transfers and locking out another affiliate.
The email corroborates a long-running rumor among online poker affiliates that the crackdown was due to an investigation into players in the United States playing on the network.
With player-to-player transfers, a customer can bypass normal withdrawal and KYC procedures by sending money to another account.
iPokerVIP, now rebranded as simply PokerVIP and affiliated with all major poker networks, promotes deals on nine different iPoker rooms, including William Hill, Winner Poker and PaddyPower.
