SealsWithClubs.eu, which bills itself as the world’s largest Bitcoin-based poker site, is in the process of issuing withdrawals to all players, shutting down US operations, and setting up shop in the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda under a new name.

The relocation comes in the wake of a recent raid on the Las Vegas home of the site's chairman, Bryan Micon.

The backers of the new SwCPoker.eu state that they:

flatly [reject] the idea that an online poker room should require your personal information. We believe the online poker experience should be similar to a live cardroom, whereby players can buy chips, play, and cash out anonymously. By using bitcoin, SwCPoker can securely, anonymously and quickly process chip transactions without requiring any documentation.

In recent years, Antigua and Barbuda has become a known location for offshore gaming; in 2007, the nation won a landmark online gambling ruling against the United States at the World Trade Organization.

The US has taken a hard line against online poker in recent years, and major poker sites will no longer do business with US residents for fear of running afoul of federal law

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act summary, as written by the United States Treasury Department in 2010, specifically "prohibits gambling businesses from knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law."

That situation changed in 2013, when Ultimate Poker launched a legal, online poker site that was only available to users physically present in Nevada. In contrast, SealsWithClubs had no such authorization.

Karl Bennison, the chief of enforcement of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, told Ars on Monday that a “law enforcement action” took place at Micon's home on February 11, 2015. The official also confirmed that Micon was not arrested or charged with a crime and that “the investigation is ongoing.”

In a February 21 YouTube video recorded from Antigua, Micon said that a number of his electronics were seized during what he described as an eight-hour raid:

After I was led out in handcuffs in my underwear, it was pretty clear that it was proper to leave sooner rather than later. I didn’t really want my two-year old daughter, who I love very much, to grow up in a police state where creativity is often met with guns and handcuffs and what-not and that’s just not the environment that I think is proper for my daughter to grow up in.

The poker mogul has been something of an unofficial Bitcoin cop in recent years—he publicly names companies that he thinks are involved in shady dealings. In 2013, he tipped off Ars to the Butterfly Labs saga, which has seen the Kansas-based miner manufacturer have multiple fraud lawsuits filed against it, including one by the Federal Trade Commission.

Micon said that he did not plan on returning to the US anytime soon.

“I don't think it's a proper environment to bring a child up in at this time,” he told Ars via Twitter. “I'm well aware that I'm a free man. It's unfortunate how if you want to work on the latest Internet poker technology, which [in my opinion] must involve Bitcoin, now they point guns at you.”