Civil litigation has been ongoing between poker pro Gordon Vayo and PokerStars, due to a tournament Vayo took part in back in May of last year. A court filing took place last week that revealed a hearing for the case to be potentially dismissed will take place on November 6th. The hearing was previously supposed to take place on September 25th.
In May of 2018, Vayo filed a lawsuit against PokerStars, alleging that the top poker room had withheld close to $700,000 of his winnings from a tournament a year previous. When the pro tried to withdraw his earnings, his account was frozen by PokerStars. The poker brand has stated that Vayo was breaking the rules by playing from his home in California instead of from Ottawa, Canada, where he has registered his account.
PokerStars asked Vayo to provide proof that he was physically in Canada when he took part in the event. However, the legal team of Vayo has stated that this type of request is a ‘sham investigation’. The attorneys for the poker pro have stated that they feel PokerStars actions are an attempt to keep the player’s winnings.
PokerStars has provided geolocation analysis that found the poker player to have been in Los Angeles, instead of Canada. From a time period of March to July, the investigation by the poker room showed that Vayo was in California when logging on, over 50 instances in fact.
Vayo disputes the findings of PokerStars IT team, with his attorney stating that he used a virtual private network from Canada to access video streaming services that could have had an unintended effect and the potential to provide inaccurate technical data via PokerStars.
For now, the case will have to wait until November to see if the proceedings will move forward if the case against PokerStars will be dismissed.
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