In a statement released in recent days by the Merge Gaming Network, the family of online poker sites fired back at Players Investment Company, or PIC Club, a major online poker payment processor that uses its status as a trading organization to operate legally in the United States.
A terse e-mail, authored by Merge Gaming CEO Anthony Taylor, read, “It has been brought to my attention, via comments in a public forum, that there is some confusion regarding a relationship we have with a payments provider. To be clear, it was Merge Gaming, who served notice on our agreement with Pic Club.” An e-mail sent by PIC Club members to players on October 15th noted that the two sides “mutually agreed to end their business relationship.” October 18th, three days after the e-mail was sent to players, marked the final day of transactions between the two entities.
Speculation on the motivation for either side ending its agreement with the other has run rampant throughout the major online poker forums, leading to Taylor’s statement. He attempted to shed some light on the point of contention by remarking, “The reasoning behind this is a matter of private record. Merge Gaming attempted to resolve the issue brought on by PIC Club, one of its principals, and one of its members, and without resolution, felt it was in the best interest of our customers to end this relationship immediately.”
The Merge Gaming CEO crisply ended his e-mail by claiming, “It is regrettable that I have to respond to the statements of the past week, but our hand has been forced. We’ve cancelled our agreement to protect our players, our network partners, and our reputation going forward.”
According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, the Merge Gaming Network is the 17th largest worldwide with a seven-day running average of 420 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, up to 700 cash game players can be found seated at its virtual felts. Its family of online poker sites includes ACED, Carbon Poker, IronDuke, Poker Nordica, Reefer Poker, and Spin32. PokerScout.com notes that the Merge Gaming Network’s headquarters is in Australia, while its servers are hosted on the Kahnawake reservation in Canada.
Chuck Kidd, the CEO of the trading company, authored the e-mail to PIC Club members ten days ago. In it, he lamented, “We regret the dissolution of this business relationship, however we believe it is in the best interest of PIC Club and our valued members.” Players who withdrew money from Merge Gaming Network sites through PIC Club would see their funds placed in a “pending status,” which meant they would only be released when funds were received from the Network. After cashouts had been processed, PIC Club officials planned to solicit relationships with individual Merge Gaming Network sites. Big Bet Poker and rooms on the IGS System were not affected by the agreement’s cessation.
Kidd recently sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss the origins and operations of PIC Club, but told us that he was unable to answer questions about the Merge Gaming Network squabble until at least Monday, October 27th. An interview will be held this week with Kidd to discuss the situation, which unfolded publicly on online forums, news sites, and other media last week.
PIC Club skirts the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and other overarching laws in the United States by “buying shares of [a] pooled commodity” and selling it to an online poker site, according to Kidd. Player’s available shares accounts received dividends of 10.5% in 2008 and 14.25% in 2007.
