10/2012 US Online Poker Payment Processing Report

10/2012 US Online Poker Payment Processing Report
http://rakeback.diguk.com

Americas Cardroom/True Poker 

The Winning Poker Network pair Americas Cardroom and True Poker has experienced some minor processing issues but their withdrawals are still running smooth enough to maintain their grade. Many players have still not received replacement debit cards to replace the ones that expired in August. That has left this option unavailable to players that once had this choice. These debit cards work at ATMs and point of sales. Those that have received the new debit card in the mail are able to receive cashouts in 1-3 days. Cash transfers are processed in 1-3 days and carry a fee of $60-$110 depending on the size of the transaction. Checks are delivered in 1-2 weeks. Players may receive one free check per month. Additional checks carry a $65 fee. Bank wires still appear to be unavailable. 

Intertops 

Intertops would probably take the top spot if they still accepted new U.S. players. The fees hold them back a bit as well. The Revolution Gaming member stopped accepting new U.S. players in the summer but did not restrict players that already had an account. Cash transfers are processed in about two days. Players may request between $150 and $2500 by cash transfer. The fees are $70 for up to $500, $85 for $501 to $1000, and $180 for $1001 up to $2500. Bank wires are processed in 2-3 weeks and have a $50 fee. Checks also have a $50 fee and arrive by courier in about a week. Checks are processed for $150-$2500.

Bodog/Bovada 

Bodog's U.S. facing brand Bovada continues its major processing improvements and moves into third place. Cash transfers are still the fastest option but many players do not have the option available. Bovada requires most players to deposit by cash transfer to receive a withdrawal that way. Cash transfers arrive in 2-5 days and carry a fee of $40-$180 depending on the size. Checks are processed in 1-3 weeks and a few players have even reported receiving checks in just a few days. Bank wire speeds have improved drastically and are now processed in 2-4 weeks. Bovada gives U.S. players one free check or wire withdrawal per month.

Merge Gaming 

Merge Gaming has experienced processing issues on both the deposit and withdrawal side in the past month. U.S. players have been unable to deposit by credit card for over a month. Players are also experiencing delays on the withdrawal side. Check speeds are currently 6-8 weeks. The check fee is in the $20 range but depends on the player's VIP level. Players that deposit by cash transfer have the option available for withdrawal as well. A player may request up to $900 by cash transfer for a $30 fee. Those speeds vary anywhere between 1 day and 2 weeks.

Merge Gaming Note: Carbon Poker, Aced, and PDC Poker are moving to a new payment processor. The date for this should be on or about November 1st. Payments for those rooms should improve with this move. Once this change has been made we will report speeds for the Carbon/PDC group separate from the standard Merge cashier.

Lock Poker 

Lock Poker continues to flirt with D territory. Lock Poker is not only having issues with U.S. players, non U.S. players are experiencing cashout speeds of 2-4 weeks to international ewallets. Lock Poker cash transfers are processed in 3-4 weeks. Checks are taking twice as long as players report a wait of 6-8 weeks. Players receive one free cashout per month.

Cake Poker/Juicy Stakes

Cake Poker moved their U.S. players to Juicy Stakes in September. Check processing immediately improved after this move. Players are now reporting cashout speeds of about three months. This is a vast improvement over the 4-5 month wait for the last few months. If cashout speeds continue to improve the group will find its way out of the D grade tier for the first time since we started our survey over a year ago. I feel the outlook is positive here as there is a lot of room for improvement and the check speeds are headed in the right direction.

Merge Gaming Online Poker Lowers Fixed Limit Rake

Merge Gaming Lowers Fixed Limit Rake
10/10/2012
http://rakeback.diguk.com/rakeback/carbon-poker.html

Fixed limit online poker players celebrated this morning as Merge Gaming lowered the rake on all of their limit games. Fixed limit players have been complaining about rake in their games ever since Merge Gaming became a leader in U.S. online poker in April 2011. The previous rake structure took $.01 for every $.20 in the pot. Most limits up to 1/2 had a $1 rake cap. All higher games had a $3 max rake.

The new rake structure caps the rake at lower limit games at as little as $.01 with a $3 cap not used until $3/$6. The rake percent at limits $.50/$1 and lower is now 4.5%. Rake at $1/$2 is 4% and up to $5/$10 is only 3%. Higher limits are less than 3%. Short handed games also received a large rake reduction to as little as 2%.

During the discussions of this rake change, some had stated that only Texas Hold'em would be included in the rake change. That was not the case. All Omaha, Stud, Draw, and mixed games are included in the new fixed limit rake formula.

This will lower player's rakeback and rake race standings but in the long run it is better because less rake will be paid. This greatly increases the chances of a win and will keep players in the game longer. This is great news for all fixed limit players and will hopefully expand the liquidity at fixed limit games on Merge Gaming.

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