What Happens In Vegas: WSOP.com Explains Cash Out Delay
Record numbers of tournament entries at the World Series of Poker proved to many that US poker is alive and well. What doesn’t help grow the game, however, is poker players left waiting for their winnings.
Several online poker players have taken to social media complaining of slow payouts from WSOP.com. The situation hasn’t caused panic, but several players have expressed frustration.
Seth Palansky, vice president of corporate communications for Caesars Entertainment and the WSOP, spoke to US Poker about the delay.
“We reached out to affected players last week, apologizing and telling them that there would be a delay. We should have the backlog cleared out this week.”
Poker players turning to PayPal
From a business standpoint, the added online bracelets were a hit with players – both in Nevada and New Jersey. The WSOP had a record number of deposits this summer, and that’s undoubtedly a good sign for online poker in the U.S.
Palansky said most players deposit and withdraw to the same payment method. That changed a bit this summer and has led to some slower than expected cashouts.
“This year we had a lot of people asking for PayPal withdrawals who had deposited cash at the cage. For a merchant, like WSOP.com, we keep a certain amount of funds on PayPal and all of the various payment processors we use.
“As withdrawal requests come in, so do deposits and that usually stays at a constant level. When we have an excess we sweep the funds into our bank account and when the pool is short we deposit additional money.”
Those extra PayPal requests threw a wrench into the usual system and have led to some slow payouts according to the WSOP.
“When we started getting more PayPal withdrawals than normal, it depleted the PayPal pool, and unfortunately, and due to the volume of requests, the process took a little longer than normal,” Palansky says.
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Poker players waiting not so patiently
WSOP.com had big numbers this summer thanks to more online events and players in New Jersey joining those in Nevada on the virtual felt. In fact, in New Jersey, WSOP.com had its best month in three years.
The site saw a 124% increase in players in online bracelet events from last year. That included almost $2.6 million in prize pools in a single day.
But players with cash still on the site continued to complain over the weekend about not receiving their funds yet.
The Twitter wrath among players hasn’t been pretty, and many have expressed frustration with a lack of response. Some players were reporting cashouts taking more than a week.
What kind of ponzi is @WSOPcom running? I haven’t waited this long for a payout since Lock Poker.
— aaron mermelstein (@aaronmermelpokr) July 27, 2019
Why is my cashout taking over 1.5 weeks? @wsoponline
— aaron mermelstein (@aaronmermelpokr) July 22, 2019
A few regular players on the site attempted to assure others that their funds were safe. Many players may still have some bad memories of having funds being stuck on Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker or Full Tilt Poker.
That isn’t the case with WSOP and officials with the site say the problem is being resolved as quickly as possible.
Your funds are secured. Ive cashed out and never had any issue with @WSOPcom
— Mokedi Derrick (@hunchoBarbarian) July 22, 2019
Other players have found success making use of the cage at the Rio after the WSOP came to an end.
I did cage cash out on Monday and get cash at cage by Wednesday 😬😬😬
— Thai Ha (@hathaipoker) July 22, 2019
Palansky says the WSOP is attempting to get payouts cleared up as soon as possible. The series is also reaching out to players in payout limbo and expects cashouts to be caught up soon.
Players with additional concerns are asked to contact customer support. Contact information is [email protected] in Nevada and [email protected] in New Jersey.
Many frustrated players continue waiting for their cash, but hopefully, those payouts will come through this week as promised. Because if there is one thing that shouldn’t stay in Vegas, it’s a player’s winnings.