GutShot Poker Non-Payment Complaints

There was a time when GutShot Poker was among the most respected operators in the online poker industry, presenting a high performance platform, a generous promotional line-up and fast, reliable payouts. That standing took on a slow decent over time that, as of last year, became a headlong plunge into the depths of the industry’s most unscrupulous operations as players began to complain of unfulfilled payout requests.

GutShot Poker reaffirmed players’ fears last month when it chose to delete its own community forums in early January, 2013; forums that just so happened to be riddled with complaints from customers who still hadn’t been paid. Instead of addressing the problem, the online poker room seems to be attempting to sweep it under the rug while, at the same time, switching poker networks, changing its ownership information and claiming to be licensed in Curacao when, in fact, its license has been suspended for an unidentified amount of time.

One of the most itinerant operators in the history of the online poker industry, GutShot Poker has traversed the networks perpetually since its inception. GutShot Poker started out on the reputable Microgaming Network, but was kicked from the line-up in September of 2008 due to what Microgaming called “breaches”? of “standard operating rules”?.  The operator then hopped aboard the Cake Poker Network where it remained stable until April of 2011 before making the switch to the iPoker Network. A year later, the real trouble began.

Throughout the spring and summer of 2012, player complaints were pouring in. Members were requesting withdrawals, just like they always had, but now, GutShot Poker was not honoring the payouts. As the protests mounted, GutShot announced its departure from iPoker with new intentions to join the Merge Gaming Network.

One would think that, with such a deplorable reputation looming before them, Merge would see the unethical behavior and refuse to associate itself with such a brand as GutShot Poker. On the contrary, Merge welcomed the poker room to its roster with open arms. We can only assume that GutShot promised the change would allow them to return to an upright path of business, but that would not be the case.

Players continued requesting their money, and the online poker room continued to ignore it. The multitude of grievances persisted on the community forums of GutShot Poker, as well as online poker forums all across the world wide web, until GutShot finally decided to handle the situation by simply eradicating its community forums.

Further confusing the situation is GutShot Poker’s alteration in regards to its ownership and licensing. In the past, the operator listed its proprietor as Appollo Assets Ltd. Then the site listed its owner as Nucla N.V., registered to GutShot Poker’s founder Bill Martin, based in Curacao.

Yet another disturbing aspect was the site’s claim to be licensed by the Curacao eGaming Licensing Authority, as represented by depicting the jurisdiction’s corresponding logo. According to PokerFuse, it was discover on the Curacao-based website http://www.gaminglicenses.com (which has mysteriously disappeared from cyberspace in the last month) that Gutshot’s license status was listed as “Suspended”?.

The future looks execrably grim for past players of GutShot Poker who have yet to receive their deserved payouts. Not only has the customer support been unresponsive, the entire website has disappeared from existence. Players can attempt to take their claims up with the Curacao eGaming Licensing Authority, but considering the operator’s suspended license status and ensuing desertion, the chances of ever seeing their money again are miniscule at best.