Poker players are leaving the U.S. in such droves after the federal government cut off their connection to online poker sites that even financial watchdog Bloomberg Business Week is taking notice.

The U.S. is losing a lot of money from many of its wealthy and/or spend-thrifty citizens abandoning ship, and all at a time when the country can’t really afford to be out any more taxpayers than necessary. Of course this is all an outcropping of the notorious happenings of Black Friday, no longer just the biggest shopping day of the year. Actually this Black Friday took place in April, not November. Tax day, April 15th, actually, and the irony is not lost on anyone. When that day precipitated the closure of online poker avenues to players residing in the United States, many avid online poker players from the states have responded by relocating to a country where their gambling dollars are welcome. So much of these dollars are fleeing the country so fast, in fact, that even Bloomberg Business Week is talking about it.

The article primarily profiles PocketFives Poker Refugees, a new company arising out of the ashes of the former U.S. online poker market, helping dislocated players to relocate to more hospitable climes, namely Canada, Costa Rica and Panama. Former professional surfer and holder of an MBA, Kristin Wilson is the company’s founder and poker pros fresh off the World Series of Poker main event, Joey Cappuccio and Matthew Stout, were her first clients. Since P5s’ August 14 launch, the company has relocated 14 American poker players, with over 100 more queries in line. A rival company, Tico Tours, has already opened in Costa Rica, the expected demand so high.