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Prosecutors working out of the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York have started telling US banks to freeze accounts used by payment processors to send winnings from online poker sites to patrons. At least four banks have been instructed by officials from the Department of Justice to seize funds in the accounts of Allied Systems and Account Services, companies that transfer money from Internet gambling sites to the US citizens who have winnings coming to them.

Payments of over $33 million are being held up to over 27,000 US voters, according to John Pappas, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance. Payments from such popular sites as PokerStars and FullTiltPoker are blocked by the prosecutorial maneuver.

Checks written to players across the country began bouncing last week, indicating something was wrong in the system. The attorneys for the US placed the command without providing for any due process rights for the rightful owners of the money, a group largely made up of normal US residents who like to play cards.

Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Alliance Bank in Arizona have received and responded to the order. A Citibank spokesman told the New York Times that bank policy was to obey such governmental imperatives.

Noted gambling expert I. Nelson Rose said he wasn't sure what legal leg the US government had to stand on in this case, the first to attack the money of players rather than that of gambling operators.

“It’s very aggressive, and I think it’s a gamble on the part of the prosecutors,” Rose told the Times.

The continued aggression on the part of the Justice Department toward Internet gambling, even after the switch in administrations, has surprised many. While Attorney General Eric Holder did tell Senator Jon Kyl that he would enforce laws against online gaming during confirmation hearings, poker players were sure President Obama's love for the game would filter throughout the Executive Branch, but so far many have expressed disappointment.