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Online poker room Zosoz (www.zosoz.com) has abruptly shut down, just two months after it opened.
Zosoz was one of a new breed of so-called "legal" online poker rooms that claimed it didn't violate U.S. anti-online gambling laws because, technically, it didn't offer gambling.
Zosoz' loophole was that gamblers didn't risk any money to play poker on the site.
Instead, they paid a monthly membership fee of $20 for the right to play free games where you could win real money.
A notice just posted on the Zosoz website reads:
"Dear Zosoz player: We regret to inform you that due to circumstances beyond our control, Zosoz will cease operations at 11:59 p.m. EST on December 14, 2008. All subscription membership fees have been refunded in full.
"No cash out required. All sweepstakes winners will be paid via cashier's check. Only winners of $600 or more must be validated to receive full payment. All documents supplied to us are stored on our secured servers. This information will be used to send 1099 forms to both the IRS and to you. This will occur in January of 2009. Once we have processed your 1099 form, we will then delete the files from our system.
"It will take up to six weeks to process winnings. We would like to thank you for your participation in Zosoz over the past two months and apologize for any inconvenience this causes you. Zosoz."
No further information is available on the site as to why the online room has folded.
It was, however, likely one of two reasons: It wasn't doing enough business to sustain viability or there was pressure from some legal authority.
Zosoz was run from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, USA, by Tim Belisle.
Thomas Somach, www.pokerhelper.com
