Not so many months after it was announced that Chris Moneymaker was the new sponsored professional for Americas Cardroom, the poker player is now at the front and center of a lawsuit against payment service Paypal. The 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion proceeded with filing his suit on Thursday, Jan. 13, following the discovery of frozen or seized funds relating to a fantasy football season.

A number of private leagues found that their entry fees had been taken control of by the PayPal service, and Moneymaker has now called on others to join in his lawsuit against the company. Filed in the United States District Court of Northern California, the lawsuit by the poker star alleges the following:

”This action stems from (PayPal)’s widespread business practice of unilaterally seizing funds from its clients’ financial accounts, without cause and without any fair or due process”.

Moneymaker’s Involvement in the Lawsuit

Viewing the lawsuit, it is clear to see that it is the complaint of plaintiffs Lena Evans, Roni Shemtov and Shbadan Akylbekov. So, how did Moneymaker get involved with it? Well, it seems as though he was participating in a 12-team fantasy football league with some of his friends. Entry fees were set at $1,000 each, and everyone’s funds were frozen by PayPal. That’s $12,000 that PayPal took the decision to seize.

Moneymaker did proceed to say that the $12,000 has since been returned to he and his party, but other online players have not been as successful with such. Due to the fact that his funds were returned to him though, he is no longer a plaintiff alongside the others in the lawsuit. Instead, he has remained active alongside them as an advisor, operating for The Bensamochan Law Firm Inc. This is the attorney group that filed the complaint in the first place.

It seems as though the poker player threatened to take the payment service to court with a class-action suit, and, as Moneymaker himself put it, “it gained steam”. Doubtless, this is the reason that PayPal went on to return his $12,000 in entry fees to him. Yet this has not stopped him from fighting for other people. On Thursday night, he informed others of how they could join the lawsuit being pushed forward by The Bensamochan Law Firm. This, he said, was so that others who have not been as fortunate as he has with getting their funds returned, can move forward with getting it.

The Terms and Conditions of PayPal

PayPal has a set of terms and conditions that specifically relate to utilizing its service for gambling activities. Those terms and conditions make a point of noting that unless a gambling merchant has officially been approved by PayPal, then anyone holding an account with them cannot “use PayPal to send or receive payments for any form of gambling activities, including but not limited to payments for wagers, gambling debts, and gambling winnings.”

Even though this is stated in the T&Cs, the plaintiffs have their own argument against the seizure of their money. While they noted that it may be within the company’s terms to ban users from utilizing its services for certain transactions, their policy “cannot be used as a ‘license to steal’.” The lawsuit goes on to state that there is “no equitable or legal argument” which officially allows PayPal to proceed with theft of money from users.

Exactly how many people have experienced this type of behavior from PayPal remains to be seen. But now that the lawsuit is able to be joined by others, thanks to the highlighting of it by Moneymaker and others, there is a strong potential for more players to come forward.

Other Users Explain Their Own PayPal Issues with Funds Being Stolen

Following the various Tweets by Moneymaker, the social media platform became awash with people explaining that they had also experienced horrible outcomes where PayPal is concerned. The majority noted that the service had opted to freeze or seize their funds. Many of those stories were in response to a story posted by Scott Fish. He operates as the creator of the Scott Fish Bowl, a company which goes about raising money every year to provide impoverished children with holiday gifts.

On Friday, Jan. 7 of this year, Fish posted his own Tweet regarding a PayPal issue he had had. In that Tweet, he said:

”For those that don’t know, using PayPal or Venmo for fantasy leagues is against their terms of service. They can freeze your account and sometimes take every penny if they catch you. I have heard these stories for years, but have heard exponentially more of them in the last year.”

A few days later, someone going by the Twitter username of Big Ten Champs replied to that message, stating:

”PayPal froze my account for 180 days. A month later they seized the $1,660 balance and claimed it was for damages because an owner had put fantasy football in the comments. Venmo is now owned by PayPal and has the same terms of service prohibiting Fantasy Sports. Beware!”

Fish would then go on to retweet the message by Chris Moneymaker on Friday, Jan. 14 that stated the lawsuit had been filed against PayPal.

Various other similar stories relating to the PayPal terms surrounding accounts being used for gambling on fantasy sports were Tweeted out afterwards. One noted that his account was shut down and the funds within it were also frozen, despite the fact that it was being used for horse racing betting, which he noted is legal. According to the source, he was not actually taking bets, and instead was simply selling horse racing handicapping information sheets and using his PayPal account for it.

Where to Go from Here

So, how do people wanting to engage in fantasy sports betting proceed from here on out? After all, they’re not likely to want to stop placing such bets and having an enjoyable time with fantasy sports.

It seems as though the primary piece of advice would be to stop using PayPal altogether. Fish has also noted that Venmo, which has been confirmed as being owned by PayPal, should not be used, either.

PayPal has authorized one or two fantasy sports betting sites, such as LeagueSafe, and this may be an alternative that some people want to look into using. It charges a small fee for using LeagueSafe, but it does offer complete transparency to all members of your league or pool.

Moneymaker, on the other hand, has advised his followers to learn how to use cryptocurrencies instead. This would steer people away from PayPal and see them depositing and withdrawing via Bitcoin and the like.

Playing Legal Daily Fantasy Sports in the USA

What will come of the lawsuit against PayPal remains to be seen. Regardless, it is currently gaining a certain amount of steam, thanks to Moneymaker and others.

Daily fantasy sports are able to be participated in legally in various locations across the United States. In fact, the NFL teamed up with the DraftKings platform as its official DFS partner. Naturally, in order to use PayPal at a fantasy sports betting site, it would need to be approved by the payment service beforehand. Otherwise, you risk having your funds frozen or seized, like several others have experienced before.

States like Louisiana have made it possible for residents to participate in DFS betting. This has made it possible for sites like the aforementioned DraftKings, as well as others like FanDuel, to legally operate within their state borders. The best route to take with regard to depositing and withdrawing at these platforms is to use an alternative payment method. DraftKings, for example, allows transactions via cards like American Express or check deposits to occur.