Papa Merge Says We Can't Compensate You. So Sorry!

As I mentioned in the last post, Lock is correct that Merge forced them to end or change their Casino Bonus promotion because it violated network rules.

However, that's where the truth in Lock's excuses ends.

While Lock can't continue to allow its members to receive the promised extra rakeback, the network does NOT care if Lock chooses to compensate the affected players in another way. That is, Lock is allowed to drop a lump sum of money in any of its players' accounts, and Merge would be just fine with that.

In fact, this is how many of the other Merge skins get away with offering secret "extra rakeback" deals. Rather than advertising such deals, as Lock stupidly did, the other skins simply occasionally transfer money into the player's account, and those transfers just happen to correspond with the extra rakeback being earned by the player. Merge could scrutinize each of these transfers, but they don't. They made a decision a long time ago not to get involved in matters such as these. Merge's only concerns lie with actual poaching or advertisement of these unauthorized deals. Merge does NOT tell its skins whether they're allowed or not to compensate aggrieved players.

For example, let's say Carbon Poker (another Merge skin) said to me, "Hey, Todd! I think you're really handsome. I'm going to give you a bonus of $3000 because you're such a good looking guy."

That would be completely fine by Merge rules. Carbon couldn't advertise that they are giving an extra $3000 to all handsome players, but Merge would have nothing against Carbon's CEO shipping me $3000 for being so studly.

Now, let's say the CEO of RPM Poker (another Merge skin) contacted me and said, "Hey, Todd, how about you wear an RPM patch at any tournament you choose to play in any casino anywhere, and I'll send you $2500."

That would also be 100% allowed by Merge rules. Again, RPM couldn't advertise that any new players get $2500 for wearing their patch, but if the CEO decided to give me that money individually (or even to a number of hand-picked people), he could do so without getting in any trouble.

My point? There are tons of ways that Lock could compensate the affected players without breaking any rules. They could choose to "sponsor" everyone screwed by this promotion, and give each person a lump sum to wear a Lock patch in any live tournament they play for the next 3 months. They could give people money just for all the trouble and hassle they went through with this mess, as compensation for their wasted time and energy. There are so many legitimate ways in which this could be packaged, but Lock isn't doing it.

Why?

Because Lock just doesn't want to pay.

They found an excuse to weasel out of paying extra rakeback (Merge forcing them to stop the promotion), and now have applied it retroactively to all the bonus money ever earned on it. Even worse, they have stalled in order to encourage players to stay and keep playing, promising a solution that they are never presenting.

If you could sue Lock in a court of law in the US, you would win ALL of the promised bonus rakeback. This wouldn't be subjective or vary from judge to judge. You would win 100% of the time, because this is a blatant case of false advertising and FRAUD. Unfortunately, you can't sue Lock, as they exist abroad, but the fact remains that they are cheating everyone who signed up for this.

I won't bother to describe the chain of lies and carefully crafted misleading responses posted on 2+2 by Lock's reps, but trust me when I say that it's more of the same type of frustrating double-talk that was found in their press release about the BLUFF Challenge scandal.

Even worse, these responses seem to only come sporadically, leaving the players hanging and constantly begging for specific answers that never come.

So has anything else happened at Lock that you should know about?

Read on...