Bugsy’s Club Shuts Down

In the latest sign of how difficult the post-UIGEA climate is for smaller online poker operators, online poker room Bugsy’s Club announced that it was closing down today.

Bugsy’s Club started as the online poker room component of popular poker content portal PokerPages. The room never quite got the type traction that would have allowed it to become a major site, but remained popular with a small core of regular users due to generous promotions and solid support. However, Bugsy’s had been having increasingly severe difficulty with payment processors over the last year, and it was apparently those difficulties that led to the closing of the room.

Bugsy’s has reportedly reached a deal with PokerStars.com to transfer all existing player balances from Bugsy’s over to PokerStars. This will not doubt be seen as a silver lining in the announcement for some players who have endured lengthy waits for cashouts at Bugsys in recent months.

From a statement on BugsysClub.com:

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control with regards to banking facilities, it is with regret that we have to announce it is no longer viable for the Bugsy’s Club Poker Room to continue our business operations. However, we are delighted to inform you that Bugsy’s Club have reached an agreement with the world’s largest online poker site, PokerStars.com, to allow all Bugsy’s Club players to transfer your account balance over to their site