Carbon Poker was one of the first traditional online poker rooms to process deposits and withdrawals with bitcoin. Many expected this to herald a new golden era for online gambling in the US following the drama of Black Friday and UIGEA. Sadly that doesn't appear to be the case as Carbon Poker and other poker sites on the Merge Gaming Network like PlayersOnly, SuperBook and SportsBetting.ag have all stopped accepting new real money players from the United States. Nobody knows if this change will be permanent but things certainly look ominous for the once mega popular U.S. facing poker room. Thankfully U.S. poker players are still well catered for at any of these bitcoin poker sites.
I really hope this is only temporary because Merge Gaming has the best poker software. Most U.S. facing poker rooms do this from time to time while they wait to get clarity on a certain legal problem. Back in 2011 Carbon stopped accepting players also but it got resolved then so I'm praying that it gets resolved now.
Yes, I really hope this is temporary. They had managed fix the payout problems that plagued them last year so I really thought they had turned a corner. It would be a shame if another U.S. poker network shuts-down.
Sites like Americas Cardroom on the Winning Poker Network never have these problems. Maybe the Merge Gambling Network need to change where they are licensed to the same country as WPN.
Yes, I've never really understood why some U.S. facing poker rooms care little about the U.S. authorities and openly solicit gamblers from all parts of the United States, while other poker sites block players from certain states or the entire country like Carbon just has.
Damn, now that they accept bitcoin I was planning to join but I just checked their sign-up page and they're still not accepting players from the United States. If I lie about my citizenship and deposit with bitcoin then how are they going to know?
That will probably work until you want to withdraw your bitcoin. Bitcoin-friendly gambling sites like Bovada and Americas Cardroom still ask their bitcoin players to provide proof of ID and proof of address to make a bitcoin withdrawal. I'm not sure if Carbon Poker put their players through a KYC procedure to withdraw BTC but you better check before you make a big deposit.
Bovada has now also closed their poker room. If you enjoyed playing poker at Bovada they've opened an identical poker room at Ignition Casino that still accepts US players.
Have Carbon Poker kicked off all U.S. players or have they just stopped accepting new players from America?
I stopped playing 2 years ago when they removed their rakeback and VIP programs. That's usually a warning sign that a site is in decline.
I'm still hoping they can turn things around and go back to being one of the best U.S. facing poker rooms but I'm starting to lose hope. Even though I love their software, I stopped playing there recently because of their 5% bitcoin deposit fee. Even Betonline, who were charging an ungodly 6.5% for btc deposits, have seen the light and eliminated that fee. I won't be returning to Carbon Poker until bitcoin banking is free.
if play numbers keep dropping and it looks like they might go out of business, carbon poker should try becoming a bitcoin only poker room that accepts players from anywhere in the world.
Carbon Poker no longer accept new players who want to deposit with Visa or Mastercard but we are glad to report they are now accepting new US bitcoin players.