A prominent Merge Poker Network skin has announced that it’ll no longer be accepting players. According to PokerNewsDaily, Poker Nordica let its customers know on April 1 the site would be shutting the doors for good after a period of uncertainty. The usually reliable skin had stopped answering emails, Tweets and Facebook messages to further fuel the rumors the skin would soon bite the dust. Players with an account have until May 1st to login and withdraw funds. This is where it starts to get a bit more interesting though.
Players can only withdraw money if they have $100 ($15 transaction fee on top of that) in their account. Any less and they have to head off to another of Merge’s skins to continue playing poker in the U.S. The fact they’re offering to pay players back dispels any worries over whether players’ funds were separate from the licensee’s own. Merge is likely to be running out of time once the states start regulating and you feel it’ll only be a matter of time before the company becomes a lot smaller.
Merge Network is home to the Jennifer Larson-owned Lock Poker Network, which was part of one of poker’s more infamous scams. There’s evidence the D-rated Sportsbook.com.ag owns the white label and if any Nordica players look at Lock Poker we’d advise them to use another Merge skin that has a better track record.
It’s true that Merge did well out of Black Friday and saw a huge spike in visitors to the site. Since then the tale of woe has seen them open and close to U.S. customers
more often than the fat kid at school’s lunch pack. Add this to the rumors of the Department of Justice listing Merge on its hitlist and you can see why Poker Nordica started to wake up and smell the coffee.
