Lock Poker Owes Players More Than $3 Million, Report Says

October 26th, 2014 | by Brian Corlisse

Lock Poker is still operating online, despite having only processed 12 cash-outs for the whole of 2014. (Image: Lock Poker)

The scale of the Lock Poker cash-out scandal may be more alarming than had been previously suspected, according to a new report compiled by TwoPlusTwo poster “IHasTehNutz,” suggesting that players are owed almost $3.2 million by the embattled online poker room.

Compiling user-submitted data from 394 Lock players who have money owed them on the site, IHasTehNutz has determined that over $941,000 in pending cash-outs are currently outstanding, and that most players have been waiting over a year to receive their funds.

More concerning still is IHasTehNutz’s assertion that 205 of these playersÂ still hold balances on the Lock, separately from these owed withdrawals, which altogether total over $2.2 million. It was previously believed that the site owed players in the region of $1 million, the majority players from within the US; however, according to IHasTehNutz’s findings, $1.7 million, the slight majority, is owed to players outside the US.

Of course, the report only includes data from those players who have come forward to submit details of their outstanding balances, a process that began in the TwoPlusTwo forums in August; the real figure owed by Lock is therefore likely to be much, much higher. It was also recently alleged that the company owes a large amount of money to its former network, Revolution.

Locked Out

Lock Poker was one of only a few well-known online poker rooms that opted to continue taking American bets post-Black Friday, and was able to fill the vacuum left by the departure of PokerStars, FullTilt et al, quickly becoming one of the leading sites in the offshore black market. It wasn’t long, however, before complaints of slow cashouts began to build, and an apparent breakdown of communication between the operator and its customers added to the mood of discontent.

In early 2013, it became clear that something was seriously wrong, as more and more players began reporting huge cashout delays. This caused many to question the solvency of the company and some players began selling their accounts on the secondary market for less than face value.

Meanwhile, Lock continued to tell players that it processed withdrawals within eight to ten weeks, and it still does, but that clearly isn’t the case.

Lock ’em Up

According to IHasTehNutz, the last received payout reported occurred in April 2014, while only 12 payouts have been processed for the entire year. Meanwhile, 340 of the 394 players on the list have been waiting a year or more, while some have been waiting almost two. Shockingly, the last payout for a player outside the US occurred in November 2013.

In April, the Poker Players Alliance sent an open letter to Lock asking for transparency and demanding details about the solvency of the company, as well as whether it keeps player funds segregated from operating funds and whether it would be willing provide a timeline for repayments. No answer was forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Lock Poker continues to operate. Players who are owed money by the site and who haven’t contributed to the report should get in touch with its author on Skype, ihastehnutz14, or via the TwoPlusTwo forums.