Lock Poker in Trouble

Despite the fact that their logo appears on the Lock Poker website the Malta LGA says they are not affiliated

The Poker industry has had more than its fair share of scandals, what with the events of April the 15th or Black Friday and the Full Tilt Poker scandal that rocked the online poker world one would have thought that there have been enough shady goings on to last a life time. Apparently Lock Poker disagree, they are currently in a spat with the Malta Licensing Authority as they have been displaying their logo on the Lock Poker website for some time despite the fact that according to the Maltese gaming authority the appearance on the Lock Poker site of their logo is both “false and misleading”.
After looking into the matter a little more deeply it can be understood where the poker site may have made their mistake. Lock Poker belongs to the Merge Gaming Network which does, in fact, have a category four gaming license that was issued to them by the Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) of Malta. Lock Poker may have assumed that because the network was certified by the LGA then that would extend to them. The LGA have been very forceful in underlining the fact that this is absolutely not the case and the errant poker room are likely to come under massive pressure to remove the logo from both the Maltese authorities and their own network.
The precise statement from the LGA was as follows; “The Lotteries and Gaming Authority (the ‘Authority') would like to inform the public that the websitehttp://lockpoker.eu/ has no connection whatsoever with the Authority and therefore any mention of the Authority or licence issued by the Authority on the mentioned website is false and misleading”. There isn’t much room for interpretation from a statement like this, it is pretty clear what the situation is.
The Maltese authority doesn’t just have a very loud bark but an extremely tough bite as well. They haven’t hesitated to suspend and/or cancel the licenses of gaming companies that they have found to be in breach of their own rules. The list of suspended gaming sites is long and illustrious with the Betonbet, Gold Victory, Betchance and many more suspended sites able to vouch for this. Lock Poker are going to have to remove the logo or continue to face the wrath of the Maltese LGA one of the most respected gaming authorities in the world.