5050 Poker has announced that it is creating a liquidation balance sheet to determine whether it can pay its creditors. It is also exploring potential legal action it can take against its network provider, Microgaming.
The news comes after 5050poker abruptly closed following what it called “another discriminatory measure” taken by Microgaming. According to the operator, the network implemented a 2-table cap on all its players.
5050 Poker has not responded to media inquiries. Microgaming had no further comment regarding the issue or the purported new policy of table-caps for players on skins known to offer high rakeback to customers.
5050 Poker is based in Malta and owned by 5050 Poker Holding AB which is listed on the Swedish Nasdaq OMX stock exchange. The parent company has no assets other than the operating company.
A poorly translated press release on the company’s corporate website explains that “Due to network Microgaming unethical conduct, the players’ confidence in 5050Poker [is] damaged with major negative economic consequences” and adds that “The ability to operate in a businesslike way in the short term [is] severely restricted.”
With that in consideration, “the company’s assets and liabilities are likely to be in such an imbalance that the Board has decided to delay further payments and to establish a balance sheet for liquidation purposes,” it continues. “The Board further decided to investigate the possibility of making financial demands on Microgaming corresponding to the damage caused to the 5050 Poker.”
MIcrogaming claimed that the site was in “material breach of contract” and limited its players to just two tables. This was evidently enough to push 5050 Poker over the edge.
The collapse exposes the fact that there is now another company regulated by the Maltese Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) that looks like it has completely ignored the LGA regulation which demands segregation of player funds. Purple Lounge players have been equally let down by the seeming inability of the LGA to enforce its own regulations so they too have to wait on a liquidator to tell them whether they have any money left.
The action taken by Microgaming to limit 5050 Poker’s players to two tables (previously 10) is emblematic of a rise in activism by poker networks looking to exert more control over the player pool and their skins. Yesterday saw iPoker announce that it was only allowing full access to the whole network player pool to qualifying operators.
