Lock Poker Appears To Have Closed
The troubled Lock Poker site has been offline since the morning of April 17. While the content at Lockpoker.eu loads properly, and the download link is operational, the software does not connect to the poker server.
The live chat feature is offline. The link to create a new account displays a form, however, it does not work. Adding player information to the form and clicking the submit button simply reloads the page. No account is created and no verification email is sent.
The website at Lockcasino.eu is operational. The software appears to be offline.
When clicked, the download button at Lockcasino.eu displays “service unavailable” from a USPoker connection in Nevada. A device located in another state was able to download the software, but received an HTML error when trying to login that froze the software.
The live help section of the casino site has a security certificate error. It expired 59 days ago. Live chat was not available once we forced the browser to disregard the certificate error.
License still valid, but no response to emails
USPoker emailed Lock Poker and Lock Casino to inquire if the sites were permanently shuttered. We did not receive a response to either of our requests.
The Curacao eGaming license pertaining to Lock – No. 1668/JAZ – is still valid, according to the country’s interactive gaming license site. The contact email for this license is listed as [email protected].
USPoker contacted this email address to inquire about the status of Lock Poker. That email bounced. The server response stated that this contact address is no longer valid.
Pokerscout.com reports sparse traffic during what appears to be Lock Poker’s final days. The site averaged 10 players during the past seven days. Its 24-hour peak is estimated to be about 20 players.
Payment issues have persisted for years
Lock Poker has shown signs of insolvency for years. Some players have been waiting for a withdrawal request since November 2012. Lock Poker has not processed any cashouts since April 2014. The Lock casino site has been on the rogue list at Casinomeister for slow payments since 2010.
Lock Poker players at Two Plus Two report nearly $1 million in unpaid withdrawal requests. The total amount on deposit at Lock Poker, including unpaid cashouts, is estimated to be in the $10-$15 million range.
If Lock Poker and its sister casino have failed, it would be the largest loss of player funds at an offshore site since Absolute Poker and UltimateBet failed after the Black Friday indictments were unsealed. These two sites comprised the Cereus Network.
Players lost an estimated $45-$50 million at Cereus after Black Friday due to the network’s insolvency. Lock Poker players are out about one-third that number, regardless of whether the site has already shuttered, or will reopen and continue to accept deposits with no intent of ever paying players.