Home » Merge Gaming Cancels Pending Skrill Withdrawals

Merge Gaming Cancels Pending Skrill Withdrawals

The cashout woes at Merge Gaming continue. The network’s cashier canceled all pending existing Skrill withdrawals on September 10, according to numerous player reports in poker forums. Merge Gaming skins include Carbon Poker, PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.ag.

The canceled Skrill requests date back months. The oldest reported was from June.

Skrill Requests Now Processed as Bank Wires

All affected players were asked to resubmit withdrawal requests through another method. Players report that bank wire is the only available option. There have been some bank wire requests that were processed almost immediately upon the submission of bank account info. For others, it was not so easy.

Some of the affected players are in smaller countries that do not have direct access to the banking system. Banks in these countries use intermediaries for international wire transactions. Players in these countries are unable to use bank wire transfers and have no other available cashout options.

This is not the first time Skrill was removed as a withdrawal request from the Merge Gaming cashier, nor was it the first time pending requests using the ewallet were reversed without notice. A similar scenario occurred in April.

Withdrawal Times Much Slower Than Industry Standard

The average Skrill withdrawal was taking nearly three months at the time of the player notification. This speed is especially unacceptable as Merge Gaming charges a 5% fee on Skrill withdrawals. Bank wires are processed in about half that time.

U.S. players typically wait about three months for a check. Some players have cash transfer available. These take two to three weeks.

A typical U.S.-facing poker site sends checks in one or two weeks. Cash transfers take a day or two to process at most other U.S. offshore poker sites.

Merge Gaming blames the slow cashouts on processing issues. That was seven months ago, plenty of time to find new payment processors.

The excuse of a lack of payment processors does not sit well with players. The slow payouts happened at the end of the NFL season immediately after a Super Bowl that did not go the way of sports books. It is unclear what the specific issues are and why that timing coincided with the largest gambling event of the year.

Merge Gaming does not accept Bitcoin like several other U.S.-facing sites, it also does not offer cash transfers to most Americans, nor does it have any sort of debit card or bank transfer like its competitors.

The lack of processors also does not explain the slow payouts to players outside the U.S. No other major poker sites are experiencing issues with Skrill. Players typically receive a Skrill payout in less than one day from other sites, not the two to three months typically reported by Merge Gaming players.

Affiliates Also Complain of Slow Payments

It is not just players waiting excessive periods of time to get paid. Affiliates complain about slow cashout speeds. Merge Gaming sites ended poker affiliate programs earlier this year. All network sites continue to credit affiliates for existing players. The change only affected new players, an approach seen as a cost cutting measure.

Football Deposits Did Not Improve Situation

The rush of deposits for the football season has yet to improve cashout speeds. This backs up the payment processor excuse. It should not make players any more comfortable about funds on deposit and in the withdrawal queue at Merge Gaming.

Merge Gaming Not Recommended

Safest Poker Sites feels that the risk of funds on deposit at Merge Gaming is higher than any other U.S.-facing poker site. All other U.S.-friendly options pay players faster and do not experience the same processing issues and delays. We feel that players should avoid depositing on Merge Gaming at this time.

It is not time to panic over funds on deposit at Merge Gaming. Some cashouts are still getting processed. It just does not seem like a good idea to put fresh funds on the network.