Broke : Lock Poker Cash Flow Problems


Sunday April 28, 2013 : CASH FLOW PROBLEMS AT LOCK POKER?
 
Revolution poker network's flagship reportedly cancelling withdrawal requests
 
If there was ever a player-sensitive issue in the world of online poker, it is the right of players to conduct the prompt and safe withdrawal of account balances, yet an upsurge of punter reports on the poker information site 2plus2 and elsewhere indicates that Lock Poker is interfering with that key function.
 
Already under fire for significantly over-long delays in payments to its players, this flagship site on the US-friendly Revolution network has allegedly started arbitrarily halting pay-outs to a growing number of players.
 
A Lock spokesman on the message board seemed unable to provide a clear explanation for the reasons for this beyond a nebulous suspicion that some sort of syndicate or organised crime group has been plotting to drive down in some unexplained manner (presumably in player-to-player fund transfers) the value of Lock player deposits.
 
The criteria applied in these unilateral decisions to withhold payment to certain players is not apparent, leaving many players wondering whether their next withdrawal may also be stopped by the operator, with no clear justification given.
 
It all sounds unnecessarily complicated and, well, unnecessary – just pay players the money they are owed.
 
The Lock Poker spokesman has also implied that marketing affiliates are in some way involved in the issue, bad-mouthing the site in an effort to cause problems. But that's what affiliates and players legitimately do when they are confronted with unilateral slow-and-no-pay tactics and few alternatives that enable them to address the issue.
 
The latest controversy adds weight to speculation that Lock may be experiencing cash flow problems. Certainly earlier complaints of excruciatingly slow payments and the dictatorial and retroactive imposition of wager-through requirements on player-to-player transfers indicate such a possibility, even in the US, where it is accepted that the legal situation makes the processing of payments problematic.
 
Lock's management should perhaps be considering a public company statement clarifying the situation. That would be preferable and more effective than leaving this business-senstive sort of crisis communication in the hands of some hapless employee facing a growing number of frustrated and angry players on message boards…and making seemingly conflicting comments that only increase the confusion.