The popular Poker and Casino Games website BODOG has announced earlier this week that it will leave the US market by the end of 2011. Players based in the United States will no longer be able to access any of its branded websites after December 31. Bodog customers in the UK and the rest of the world will not be affected by this decision and will be able to carry on enjoying one of the most popular casino games, poker and online sports betting website in the world.

Once again, it seems that US players are facing increasingly restricted access to online gaming. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars have already been disabled to US players in April and now this is another operator that intend to leave the US market.

In a statement released by the Bodog management team, they explain that they want to focus on Europe and Asia where they are able to offer gambling service in a safe and secure environment and where they are able to gain local gambling licenses. The statement reads: “In order to ensure the brand’s expansion is not affected by negative perceptions both in the UK and elsewhere in emerging markets such as Asia where Bodog88.com is already successful, a decision has been made to withdraw the Bodog brand from the US market at the end of 2011″. The decision to close down operation in the US represents a fresh direction for BodogBrand.com as the group looks forward to welcoming players from other markets and to keep offering great services to local gamblers.

Bodog Poker was one of the few online poker sites that continued to accept US based online poker players after the FBI raid on other large poker websites on April 15th. However, the group was granted remote and non-remote gambling license by the U.K. Gambling Commission earlier this month and they want to ensure that the smooth running of their operations in the UK, Europe and Asia takes priority over their operations in the US where gambling laws are still being restricted by Congress.

Bodog has an attractive online betting websites with many great features and the Bodog poker room has always been popular with online poker players. However, when it comes to casino games, they will face tough competition in the UK from established online casino games sites such as William Hill, Bet365, 888, Sky Casino or Spin Palace.