ESPN says it will indeed air World Series of Poker

News of the death of ESPN’s TV coverage of the World Series of Poker has been greatly exaggerated. True, ESPN announced last night that its getting out of the poker broadcasting business, due to the feds shutting down the three biggest online poker sites in a fraud and money laundering investigation. But today, ESPN would like you to know that their previous announcement does not include the World Series of Poker, which will air in July as scheduled. Please make a note of it. Here’s the tweet from ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman:

“I’m relaying a very important message from the poker team at ESPN. Just so that its clear, ESPN will still be covering the WSOP.”

In case you hadn’t heard, all the fuss is because the U.S. government froze the bank accounts of three poker sites in 14 countries, including those of several sponsors of televised tournaments. From Bloomberg.com:

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan announced on April 15 a revised indictment against the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. PokerStars, based on the Isle of Man, Ireland’s Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker of Costa Rica are the leading online poker sites doing business with U.S. customers, according to prosecutors. Five sites displayed notices yesterday that the FBI had seized the domain names.

“We are looking at the funds and accounts to determine if they are the profits of an illegal enterprise,” Langmesser said. “The funds won’t be available until a determination has been made,” she said.

Disney, based in Burbank, California, fell 32 cents to $41.20 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has climbed 9.8 percent this year.

ESPN has been criticized for not acknowledging the fact that they make substantial advertising and sponsorship revenue from the three companies involved.

But if you enjoy sitting up all night watching people fondle their chips, don’t worry, you’re not totally out of luck.

“But without sponsorship from the sites, TV poker will mostly be a thing of the past,” said Andy Wang, a New York-based journalist and poker player who has covered the World Series of Poker for MSNBC. “The World Series of Poker main event is a big enough brand where it can make it, but don’t count on much else.”

So, no poker and no football this fall? And then no NBA? What a potential apocalyptic landscape.

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Disney’s ESPN Drops Poker Programming After Websites Charged [Bloomberg]
ESPN Doesn’t Acknowledge Elephant In The Room When Reporting On Online Poker Crackdown [Awful Announcing]