Lock Poker A Poster Child For Online Regulation

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Friday, June 20th, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

Lock Poker represents all that is currently wrong with unregulated online poker, with the beleaguered poker room now considered a running joke in the industry. US friendly poker sites already have a severely tarnished image as far as industry representatives are concerned, but while they mostly still continue to provide a dependable service, Lock Poker looks like its on the brink of folding owing millions of dollars in funds to its frustrated customers.

Average cash out times of over one year

The amount Lock Poker owes to Two Plus Two members alone is believed to be close to $1 million, and with an average withdrawal speed of more than one year, the number of frustrated players reporting unacceptable cash out speeds continues to grows exponentially. In fact, the situation has become so alarming that the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) felt compelled to send a letter to the site demanding answers on the issue back in April, with an extract of the letter reading:

“We have been informed that Lock Poker is taking an unreasonable time in fulfilling its customers’ requests for return of their funds. In some cases, the reports are of significant delays; in others, we see reports of requests for payment having languished over a year with no progress.”

In spite of the high-profile request by the PPA, however, no reply has been forthcoming.

Plummeting traffic

Not surprisingly, Lock Poker has seen its traffic plummet from the several thousand cash game players who would regularly play on the site during peak hours, to the seven-day average of just 50 players which it currently reports, according to PokerScouts ‘Online Poker Traffic Report’.

Furthermore, there are indications many of those players would rather not be playing on the site at all, but are compelled to do so in order to use up their near worthless funds trapped on Lock Poker. As John Mehaffey from 4flush.com, explains:

“The cash game quality is extremely high. Chips are thrown around the tables like they are worthless. That is, of course, because they just about are. Players have been swapping Lock Poker chips for cash at a rate of about $.06-$.07 on the dollar for months. That means a player at a $200 NL table is really at a $12 or $14 game.”

Bad reputation

In fact, Lock Poker’s reputation is so tarnished that most of its marketing partners have abandoned it after either failing to be paid by the site, or as a response to the multitude of complaints they have received concerning slow cash outs. As a result, Lock Poker has fewer and fewer ways to draw players to its poker room, a situation compounded further by any Google search of Lock Poker, which subsequently returns warnings from affiliate sites, as well as a plethora of articles posting complaints and updates from disgruntled players.

The current situation is a far cry from the days in which Lock Poker managed to attract the patronage of such top sponsored pros as Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Paul Volpe, Brett “Gank” Jungblutt, and Chris Moorman. All these pros have since abandoned the site, with UK online poker legend Chris Moorman, commenting last May:

“I have decided not to renew my contract with Lock. I sincerely hope Lock is able to overcome its current problems and..for the sake of online poker their situation is resolved.”

Company still solvent?

Many industry experts have concluded that Lock Poker is in all likelihood insolvent, especially considering the site has cash out requests dating back to 2012, and that there is very little deposit money still finding its way to the poker room. In an attempt to ascertain the financial situation at Lock poker The Poker Players Alliance even gave the site a chance to explain its policies to customers by answering the following questions:

1: Does Lock Poker keep players’ funds segregated from operating funds? If so, what mechanism is used to accomplish this separation?

2: Does Lock Poker have, or will it be implementing, a system to organize its payment processing so that those who have been waiting the longest will be given priority in future payments?

3: Does Lock Poker have a timeline of its plan to pay its players in full?

4: Will Lock Poker immediately provide open, accurate, up-to-date information regarding time required to process customer withdrawal requests?

Unfortunately, Lock Poker’s concern as to the welfare of its customers is as slack as its concern over cash out speeds and several months later the PPA have still received no response.

Lock Poker to shut?

Under the present circumstances it seems unlikely the site can ever extricate itself from the quandary it is now in, and in the absence of an injection of liquidity Lock Poker may have to close its doors before long. In the meantime, the PPA had these words of warning for the poker community:

“..we encourage extreme caution when depositing on Lock Poker. We also strongly encourage affiliates to remove Lock Poker ads and positive reviews. In the current state, these are at best misleading.”