There has been much conjecture in the media in the past week surrounding the contractual disagreement between Microgaming Poker Network and 5050 Poker. The result of the ‘breach of contract’ was that Microgaming Poker Network decided to cancel all ties with 5050 Poker with immediate effect. However, this was challenged by the management of 5050 Poker who stated that Microgaming Poker Network only cancelled the contract due to the fact that 5050 Poker paid out more winnings on average than the other poker networks affiliated to Microgaming, therefore implying that Microgaming Poker Network was not satisfied with the overall profits.
The good news is that there is finally clarity from Microgaming’s side pertaining to the statement released by 5050 Poker. The first point that Microgaming Poker Network is challenging is that 5050 Poker did not in fact pay €150,000 in fines, but rather what was referred to as a system of reallocation of funds between April 2010 and June 2012. According to Microgaming, this is an industry standard known as ‘Rake Reconciliation’ that corrects imbalances across poker networks.
The other statement that Microgaming Poker Network is challenging is that it imposed a ‘simultaneous table restriction’ on 12 June 2012 without giving prior warning to 5050 Poker. According to Microgaming, all its operators within the poker network were notified on 4 May 2012 about the new restriction rule. The rule stated that the number of tables a player may play simultaneously may be cut down for a period for the good of the entire network. The rule was enforced by Microgaming Poker Network on two other operators, as well as 5050 Poker.
