"We're a poker first business", what a load of crap. Nobody's forcing you to take sports bets but if you take them you take them.
I've been following the discussion around ACR's sportsbook and withdrawals, and I want to clear up several things directly.
First, ACR does not have a liquidity problem. We have a long history of paying our players, and nothing about this situation changes that.
ACR is, first and foremost, a poker company. Sportsbook, Casino and our other products are secondary services we offer to our poker customers.
For a long time, ACR has required players to generate poker rake equal to 10% of their deposits before withdrawing. That requirement exists in part because we're a poker-first business, and it also helps prevent our platform from being used simply as a vehicle for moving money in and immediately back out.
After experiencing significant coordinated professional sportsbook activity, including organized betting syndicates using ACR primarily as a standalone sportsbook, we extended that requirement across our auxiliary products.
I also need to acknowledge where we got this wrong in the case currently being discussed.
Some of our Customer Service representatives misunderstood how the requirement should be calculated and gave the player an incorrect figure based on his sportsbook winnings.
That was wrong.
The requirement is based on 10% of the player's deposits — not 10% of his winnings.
I apologize to the player for the incorrect information and the confusion our communication caused. That's on us, and we're addressing it internally so our teams communicate this policy clearly and consistently going forward.
What has never been communicated to this player is that ACR will not pay him.
We will.
The same published requirement applies here: the player must generate poker rake equal to 10% of the applicable deposit amount. Once that requirement and our normal account requirements are satisfied, his withdrawal can be processed.
We understand that some people may disagree with that policy. That's fair. But disagreement with a withdrawal requirement is very different from ACR being unable or unwilling to pay its players.
We're also reviewing the wording across our Terms & Conditions, help materials and Customer Service procedures so that there is no ambiguity about what is required, how it is calculated or when it applies.
We should have communicated this particular case better from the beginning, and I apologize for that.
But to be absolutely clear: this is not a liquidity issue, and ACR is not refusing to pay this player.
Phil Nagy
CEO, ACR Poker