Is Carbon Poker on the verge of an imminent shutdown? Many factors appear to point in that direction.
Both players complaining about slow or no cashouts on forum threads, and business directions being handed down from the site itself, are making it look like Carbon may soon join Lock and other now-defunct online sites, following internal issues.
“I heard someone tell me carbon check cashouts were taking forever is there an issue with the site?” TwoPlusTwo forum poster TradeOC pondered on Friday afternoon.
“Probably won’t be long now,” added another poster on the same thread, kRuNkY.
Company Adds Fuel to Fire
Further spurring rumors that Carbon Poker might be in trouble was a notice to affiliates indicating that their affiliations would be shutting down as of June 1. The letter also said no new players would be accepted into the affiliates program as of that date. The notice said the same shutdown would affect CarbonPoker, CarbonSports, and CarbonCasino, although the notification said that these sites will all remain “fully operational,” and that “existing players will not be affected by this closure.”
Previous Rumblings May Have Indicated Trouble
This is not the first time thunderclouds have loomed for Carbon. Back in July 2014, the Merge Gaming Network site was already slashing VIP loyalty program benefits, including dropping earned points for tournament buy-ins after July 15, among other non-player friendly adjustments.
And a poster named IMightBluff on the TwoPlusTwo forum thread on Friday was cynical about payouts altogether, saying, “I like how it says all comission [sic] paid out as normal. When I am on day 45 waiting for March lol.”
Only the Strong Survive
It seems to have been a bit of a Darwinian year for online poker sites. Just last month, Lock Poker vanished into thin air, and the site had long been at odds with players who were angry due to months and even years of no payouts. Further exacerbating that situation was what appeared to be a lack of oversight from its Curaçao regulator, who seemed to have turned a blind eye time and time again as players demanded action.
Will what has until recently been considered the flagship Merge Gaming Network site follow suit and fold its hand for good? As the old saying goes, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck…
