Do you remember the online poker room Lock Poker and how it shut down, owing millions of dollars to players in the form of unsettled withdrawal requests? While the millions of dollars are still missing and unlikely to be returned, court documents suggest that the founder and CEO of Lock Poker finds herself on the hook for over $2.2 million in damages caused as a result of Lock’s parent company going bankrupt.
Lock Poker burst onto the online poker scene in 2007 and made an immediate splash in its waters. Back then, most online poker rooms offered their services to U.S.-based players despite the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). Lock Poker was a popular haunt for American grinders, and business seemed to be booming. However, the site folded nine years later, with players owed a combined sum thought to be up to $15 million.
Big Name Pros Join Lock Poker’s Roster
Two years after launching, Lock Poker’s owner and CEO Jennifer Larsen sanctioned the signing of several high-profile, prominent poker pros to the site’s roster. Eric “Rizen” Lynch came on board and was made Vice President of Product Development and then poker room manager. Others who joined the company in various roles included Mike Leah, Matt Stout, Kyle Bowker, and Lee Childs.
Online legend Chris Moorman, Paul Volpe, Annette Obrestad, and Michael Mizrachi would be part of the Lock Poker team over the years. Everything seemed rosy, but something was seriously wrong behind the scenes.
Cashout Concerns Begin Surfacing
Concerns about the site began surfacing in 2010, with Lock Poker appearing on Casinomeister’s rogue list for slow payments. Then came poker’s Black Friday to throw another spanner in the works. On April 15, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seized several online poker rooms’ websites and charged their executives with money laundering, illegal gambling, and wire fraud.
Unsurprisingly, banks and payment processors distanced themselves from online poker rooms, making it incredibly challenging for those sites to accept deposits and process withdrawals.
Despite those struggles, Lock Poker gave the impression that they could weather the storm. Better yet, they announced they wereleaving the Merge Network and purchasing the now-defunct Cake Network to become standalone operators. However, something was rotten in the state of Denmark.
The Start of Lock Poker’s Demise
Player traffic dwindled on the new network, resulting in a lack of new deposits and, therefore, rake and tournament fees, but extravagant spending by the company’s management continued, according to Lock Poker’s former Director of Social Media and Affiliate Marketing, Shane Bridges.
Bridges spoke to Pokerfuse in February 2015, shortly before the site went dark, and claimed Larsen and her management team were buying “$500 bottles of wine with every single meal, Vintage Dom any time champagne was drunk, and insane overtipping.” Bridges added the Lock Poker executives took first-class flights everywhere and stayed in “insane five-star boutique hotels.”
In May 2013, matters seemed to come to a head. Some Two Plus Two forum posters claimed they hadn’t received withdrawals requested the previous year, with U.S. players waiting five months or more for funds to arrive. The cashout issues created a black market where players bought funds tied up on Lock Poker. However, the site soon put a stop to that happening.
Lock canceled withdrawal requests that had been lingering for months and contacted affected players with an email reading:
“Please note that player transfers and winnings derived from player transfers are not eligible for payouts. If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
The shocking development understandably caused outrage among Lock’s customers. Several Lock Poker Elite Pro members, including Chris Moorman and Paul Volpe, parted ways with the beleaguered online poker room. At the time, Volpe told PokerNews, “I don’t want to bash Lock, but if people aren’t getting paid, then I don’t want to be either.”
Lock was now in freefall. Online searches for Lock and withdrawals returned thousands of results from angry customers. Respected pros distancing themselves from the site didn’t help, and traffic dwindled to between 10 and 20 players. The site hadn’t paid anyone for a year; the writing was on the wall.
In April 2015, Lock Poker closed its doors and turned off the lights without a written warning or explanation. Players began reporting that the site was unavailable. The website remained active for a while, but player accounts were inaccessible. Lock Poker, which had accepted deposits right up to folding, had ridden off into the sunset with approximately $15 million owed to scammed players.
Shadey Dealings Behind the Scenes
The executives behind Lock Poker apparently went to great lengths to create confusion and distance themselves from any legal action.
A Curacao-based trust company, Carmanco, established the gambling company Cipaco, which operated Lock Poker and its casino. Claims against Cipaco piled up, so everything was transferred to Stacktrace NV in 2013.
Carmanco established Stacktrace NV in 2012 and began operating Lock Poker in 2013 using the master license of Cyberluck, another company that Carmanco established. Players did not have to create new accounts, leading to later claims that the takeover only created uncertainty about the responsibility for the claims.
Carmanco was a director of Stacktrace from its inception until February 2015, when it formally withdrew its directorship. Three months later, a month after Lock Poker went dark, Stacktrace was declared bankrupt.
Court Rulings and Implications
In 2018, a court ruling found Carmanco and Cyberluck were jointly liable for damages due to mismanagement and negligence. Both were ordered to pay an initial advance of 100,000 guilders ($55,500), which Cyberluck complied with.
The Court of Justice reaffirmed this decision in 2020. By February 2022, the bankruptcy trustee recognized creditors’ claims totaling over $1 million. Additionally, the court approved costs associated with the bankruptcy process amounting to 187,000 guilders ($103,600), and ongoing costs of approximately 75,000 guilders ($41,400).
The Curacao court ordered Carmanco to pay more than $1.2 million in damages while holding Cyberluck liable for $1 million. Cyberluck declared bankruptcy in October 2024. However, because the judgment had already been requested before that date, Cyberluck is still on the hook for $1 million.
The Plot Thickens: Unnamed Canadian Women Liable For $2.2 Million
Both Carmanco and Cyberluck felt that someone else should pay the cost, a Canadian woman who was the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) of Carmanco. It so happens that Jennifer Larsen, founder and CEO of Lock Poker, is Canadian.
According to anonymized court documents published on the Dutch site Casinonieuws.nl, the UBO applied for bank accounts for Lock Poker’s Stacktrace in 2014 and was the only person authorized to dispose of those accounts. Lock Poker’s player deposits found their way to another company’s bank account. The same unnamed Canadian woman applied for those bank accounts.
The unnamed Canadian woman did not appear in court and was ordered to pay the costs that Cyberluck and Carmanco were convicted of in her absence.
While it seems unlikely at best that Lock Poker’s former customers will ever see a cent of their missing funds, they may take some solace in the fact that the person who masterminded what was essentially a scam faces paying over $2.2 million in damages.