Blanca Games Inc. is the parent company that operates the Cereus Poker Network. The two members of the cereus poker network are UB Poker and Absolute Poker. Both sites were recently indicted by the US Department of Justice. As part of the indictment their respective domain names were seized as well as bank accounts. Shortly after the indictments both sites displayed messages that stated real money play for players located in the USA was not allowed. However, many players from the USA were able to sit and play at the real money tables. It is speculated that the actual poker software does not have the capabilities to stop players from a restricted country to access the real money tables. During this entire time Absolute Poker and UB Poker restricted withdrawals for non-USA players to $250 a week. All players from the USA as of right now are still not able to withdrawal from the poker sites.
Blanca Games has informed the public via a press release that their legal counsel is now in talks with the US Department of Justice to possibly get back both domain names and also enter an agreement to allow US player withdrawals. Blanca Games also noted that they will now reorganize the entire organization and focus on the software business and non-USA poker traffic. As a result of this reorganization it is rumored that up to 95% of the existing staff was laid off.
Absolute Poker and UB Poker have been through a lot over the last few years. They acknowledged a massive cheating scandal as well as a serious security issue. Something to keep in mind for all players is that on both accusations both poker sites made whole all players there were affected and they also made their software secure.
UPDATE : It is now being reported that Blanca Games will soon be filing for bankruptcy protection in Norway.
UPDATE 2: It seems that the pending bankruptcy is not Absolute Poker/ UB Poker but instead one of the shareholder groups that owns bonds that were issued by Absolute Poker/ UB Poker.
