PokerStars Black Friday Cash Out Asked of New Jersey Players

The time’s finally come—a PokerStars Black Friday cash out is being asked of New Jersey players who had accounts prior to the scandal.

Nearly five years after the 2011 Black Friday scandal that took down PokerStars and nearly ruined the brand forever, the site and its new parent company Amaya Gaming have made an appeal to a small pool of NJ players who had accounts before the controversy, asking them to withdraw their funds as soon as possible. The PokerStars Black Friday cash out would be another step towards putting the scandal to rest, and re-entering the NJ gambling industry with a clean slate.

According to published reports in US gambling news, there’s collectively USD 428,000 in unclaimed money in the NJ accounts. PokerStars has stated that any money that hasn’t been cashed out by the end of the year will be sent to the NJ Unclaimed Property Department.

PokerStars Black Friday cash out part of its rebranding

Since taking over PokerStars, Amaya Gaming has made strides in rebranding and bringing the site back to the US market. The PokerStars Black Friday cash out is another step in its attempts to continue to stay on the good side of the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE).

“As we recently have received approval in New Jersey and anticipate beginning to offer real-money online gaming soon, we wanted to provide you with the opportunity to obtain the funds," PokerStars said in a statement, addressing the owners of the abandoned accounts.

Amaya Gaming is clearly looking for a fresh start for PokerStars, and is relentlessly trying to rid itself of any association with the Black Friday scandal. They’re trying to rebrand themselves as a online gambling site that obeys US gambling laws and that goes above and beyond, as exemplified by its kind gesture in asking the NJ players who don’t want to bother with cashing out to donate their unwanted funds to an organization that benefits problem gamblers.