UK-licensed online poker site PKR is shutting down after suffering “financial difficulties”, official statements posted on the website last Wednesday revealed. As the update stated, the operator is currently receiving professional advice while its companies PKR Technologies LTD and PKR Limited have filled administration applications to the Court of Administration Orders which are to be heard this week.

PKR was part of Microgaming’s Poker Network, the MPN, which suspended their account on May 4th after receiving notice from PKR that they were seeking independent financial advice and asking Microgaming to cease all withdrawals, deposits, and games.  The poker site was reportedly inaccessible for players for over 48 hours, prompting speculations as to the cause behind the pause, which were later cleared via an official statement from the MPN network last Friday. PKR’s social media profiles were also deleted after the update.

PKR was an independent Poker site that launched in 2006 and offered 3D Poker to its user base. After a decade in operation, they joined the MPN in an effort to increase liquidity following the operator’s withdrawal from several European markets. The operator even made efforts to improve performance by offering new products like Virtual Sports, which were added at the end of 2016. However, new reports suggest that PKR employees were sent home after last week’s decision while MPN’s update confirms the company has filed for an administration order.

The administration procedure is a mechanism for rescuing companies that have become insolvent, which raised concerns about the security of PKR players’ funds. Microgaming said in their statement that PKR “repeatedly assured” them that players’ funds were kept in a segregated account, as the licensing terms from the UK Gambling Commission stipulated. However, the statement also outlined that segregated accounts do not automatically imply that players’ funds will be returned soon, or even at all, adding that it was up to the administrator of PKR to decide how the funds will be returned to players.