Where did PKR Poker go, and is it ever Coming Back?

After ten years of (relatively) uninterrupted services, the popular 3D poker site PKR has gone offline. It’s been more than two days now. The operator has not responded to any cries for support, and recently proclaimed “financial difficulties” as the cause. Angry players want answers – and their money back!

The situation began on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, when PKR suddenly went offline without warning. Players weren’t too concerned then. Dropped service isn’t all that uncommon in today’s online poker community, especially with the strain of DDoS Attacks (Distributed Denial of Service) that have intermittently targeted iGaming operators over the last few years.

As the hours drew on, many players finally gave up trying to log back in, assuming the 3D poker site would be back up and running as usual by Thursday. That was not the case.

Twenty-four hours went by with no website available, and no response from PKR. Players had even taken to the PKR Twitter page with their complaints, hoping to get answers. But PKR wasn’t willing to talk there either.

Microgaming Confirms Closure of PKR

After 48 hours, the first clues to what was actually happening began to surface by way of a brief statement from Microgaming. On the morning of Friday, May 5, Microgaming – the company that hosts PKR poker games on its MPN network – issued this statement:

“Following a request from PKR on Wednesday 3 May 2017 at 17:32, Microgaming suspended gameplay on PKR.com.

“Microgaming is aware that their games remain offline and players are speculating about the reason for this. As soon as Microgaming has more information on the situation, it will be shared as soon as possible.”

With the cat out of the bag, PKR finally took action, but not in the way players had hoped. The website was re-opened around 1.00pm on Friday, offering visitors a single desultory page titled ‘Status at PKR‘.

The concise text of this new page miserably fails to assuage members of the 3D poker site who want to know whether their current balances will ever be repaid:

“PKR Ltd and PKR Technologies Ltd have experienced recent financial difficulties and are in the process of taking professional advice.

“This process is ongoing and further updates will be posted to this website as and when they are available.”

Nowhere for PKR Poker Players to Turn

There is no support link, no login link, no possible way to request a withdrawal of funds. PKR’s Twitter page has since disappeared from the world wide web as well, leaving players with absolutely no way to communicate with the 3D poker site they once trusted.

According to a publication in EGR Magazine, “PKR has halted trading and applied for administration.”

This is a frightening turn of events for members of the 3D poker site. Most will surely remember the disastrous events of online poker’s Black Friday back in April of 2011. That incident was forced by the US Department of Justice, who seized the websites of Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, but it revealed the sick underbelly of irresponsibility among some operators.

Full Tilt Poker had spent all of its players’ money, and had no funds left to pay out balances when the site was shut down. PokerStars eventually came to the rescue, purchasing the FTP brand and reimbursing player accounts out of pocket.

But who will rescue PKR poker players if the operator has run its financial ship aground? All we can do is wait for answers, and hope that they are positive ones.