All rakeback deals on Merge Gaming skins will cease at the end of January and players will be transitioned to VIP programs, it was announced yesterday.

Carbon Poker customers were informed via email that the new policy will take effect at the end of January 31, at which point “all players will be transferred from the rakeback program to the VIP program.”

A Carbon Poker representative later confirmed to pokerfuse that the change would be implemented across the entire Merge Gaming network.

Merge has been back and forth on the idea of direct rakeback to customers. In June 2011, Merge stopped offering rakeback to new account holders but allowed those already with accounts to maintain their cashback rewards. One year later, soon after the departure of Lock Poker from the network, Merge reinstated rakeback as an option to new players, as well as to any existing customers previously restricted to the VIP program.

Any player on a rakeback account with a current VIP balance will need to use those rewards by the end of the month, as all such balances will be “zeroed out” when they are moved over to the VIP system. Players already on the VIP system do not need to spend points.

Justifying the move, a Carbon Poker representative stated the switch is “... the best way to build and improve the overall poker ecology of our network.”