The Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) said this week that it is investigating online poker network Everleaf Gaming over reports that the network, licensed by the LGA, is reneging on player payouts. A number of reports from alleged players have reached this newspaper in recent weeks.

But, according to the LGA, complaints about problems with the network actually come from affiliates disguising themselves as players.

Last year, Everleaf confirmed that the US government had seized some funds of one of its payment processors, necessitating the online poker site’s blocking of American players, and sanctions being issued by the LGA.

But since then a number of players have said that Everleaf has still not paid them.

Players contacting this newspaper have complained of a total of €150,000 still owed to them by Everleaf, payments that have been pending for up to six months now, although, they point out, that Maltese regulations stipulate that such payouts need to be effected within five days.

A statement issued by the LGA this week said there have been a number of what it ascertained to be “non-genuine” complaints being made against Everleaf and the LGA’s oversight.

The LGA said this week that since Everleaf is currently under investigation, “it would not be prudent to disclose any further information at this stage”.

It did, however, state that, “Towards the beginning of 2013, the LGA reported that Everleaf was under scrutiny due to slow payment to players. LGA intervened directly with Everleaf in order to rectify such slow payments.

“Notwithstanding, the LGA continued to receive further complaints, which were all investigated. It resulted that a number of complaints that were also being indicated to the media were complaints stemming from non-genuine players.

“The non-genuine complaints were also investigated, where it transpired that such complaints were coming from affiliates disguising themselves as players. The LGA was and still is systematically contacting all players with genuine complaints to process their cases.”

Although LGA’s report on affiliates and “non-genuine” complaints could hold water, online poker news websites claim to have spoken with some of the legitimate players that still have not received tens of thousands of dollars they had won on Everleaf.

A previous statement from the LGA said that a “great majority” of funds that are owed to players have been refunded because of the LGA’s intervention.