Eurolinx: Withdrawal problems and cashflow concerns for this formerly top-ranked Microgaming poker room. How can lightning strike twice in the same place?

In my Microgaming poker article of earlier this year, I described the saga of the collapse Of Tusk Investment Corporation and the subsequent loss of around $5,500,000 in player funds. This was a debacle from which the software provider, Microgaming, did not emerge with much credit, having offered no assistance to the players nor uttered so much as a word other than to deny all responsibility.

Almost exactly a year later, lightning appears to have struck twice; one of the top-ranked Microgaming poker rooms, Eurolinx, is currently giving every impression of teetering on the brink: previously fast withdrawals delayed up to three months and counting, with escalating improbable and varied excuses.

In mid May this year, the slow eurolinx withdrawals discussion was initiated on the popular “2+2 poker” forums. I have dissected the discussion at painful length in the Eurolinx withdrawal problems article I’ve written for my own site.

Here are some select highlights:

In mid May, the clearing time for bank transfers had been unexpectedly extended:

The live chat rep told me that it is a delay on the bank side and the transfer was initiated on April 23. Forgive my ignorance of the banking industry but why does an electronic transfer take in excess of 3 weeks to clear?

At the end of May, customer service at Eurolinx appeared to be living in cloud cuckoo land:

As far as I know we have been paying players normally, so in your case I am really sorry that they have not paid you on time.

By early June, problems were apparently acknowledged:

I spoke to the managing director on the phone earlier. He explained to me that they are having problems with their payment processor that is returning a lot of transfers without proper notice.

…followed soon after by an additional couple of excuses:

“Either they have provided us the wrong bank details, or our bank is very strict on big amount withdraw, they will take longer time to check, to ensure there is no money laundering.”

By early July, something almost truth-sounding was emerging:

“Kindly note though that there are some delays in processing at the moment, due to tightened security checks on withdrawals. I am afraid I do not have a strict time frame to provide you with. Your withdrawal will be processed as soon as possible.”

Mid July, and it’s bad news time for the worldly-wise online gambler – the dreaded bonus offer:

“Due to certain payment processor issues we encountered within the last months, we experienced some delays when processing withdrawals. I am aware that you have been affected by this problem and I hope you accept our sincere apologies. In addition, I would like to offer you a special bonus as a form of compensation.

Please find a $500 bonus credited to your Eurolinx poker account…”

A “going out of business sale”? I’ve seen them before.

By the end of July, it all looked good:

“The problem has now been fixed, however, we have some withdrawal backlog to deal with. That is why your withdrawal was not able to process on time.”

So there was a problem after all? What happened to the security checks / wrong bank details / money laundering concerns / the-dog-ate-your-money excuses?

By early August, a player waiting fully three months for his money acknowledged what everyone was thinking:

13th of May here, still waiting. Yes, I do believe they are broke at this point. There is no other reasonable explanation and there hasn’t been one for a long time.

To date, rough player tallies of amounts owed are in the region of half a million dollars. Some payments were being reported over the previous few months, allbethey vastly outweighed by unpaid withdrawal requests, but over the last week or so I am not aware of any player receiving a payment. In addition, customer service appears to have stopped fielding questions and is directing all enquires to the “finance department” – which doesn’t reply.

A Casinomeister warning was issued, and Eurolinx was put on Casinomeister’s no help possible list, for “reasons of veracity”, which I assume means that Bryan Bailey thought they were lying to him about the situation – which is quite likely.

Around the same time, an affiliate posted about a Eurolinx affiliate non-payment issue at the same forum. It would seem that players and affiliates alike are now receiving the cold shoulder from Eurolinx.

Eurolinx is actually licensed in a jurisdiction which borders on reputable – see the terms and conditions page:

“Eurolinx” is a company owned by Eurolinx International NV, whose offices are held at PO Box 6052, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. It is marketed by same through an exclusive agreement with Eurolinx Ltd, whose offices are held at Vincenti Buildings, Suite 409, 14/19 Strait Street, Valletta Malta. Eurolinx shall heretoafter be referred to as the “Company.”

Eurolinx is licensed in Curacao under the master license #5536/JAZ.

Unfortunately, registering complaints with the Caracao Licensing Authority is probably not going to reunite players with their funds, since the funds appear gone.

But why? How does a poker room lose money?

Earnings come from the rake, the commission taken on a percentage basis from each pot; the players’ deposits are simply redistributed amongst the players during the course of play. In order to make a profit, the rake needs to counterbalance and exceed the room’s operating expenses. Such expenses would be: licence fees, affiliate payments, staff costs and bonuses.

But these costs should be relatively easily calculable and should not end up spiralling out of control.

So where did the money go?

It remains a mystery which I suspect will never be resolved, whether or not Eurolinx manages to get back on an even keel. On the basis of its former reputation and the fact that the room is still technically operational, many players are currently advocating continuing to play, in order to generate more rake income for the room and help to bring it back on track.

This looks like a risky and rather hopeless strategy to me, as the rake was far greater when the problems started than it is now, player good faith notwithstanding.

Welcome to the underwhelming world of Microgaming poker.

…again.