After just two months of operation, online poker site Zosoz closed its doors on December 14th. Members of the site were greeted with a short letter stating the site would be closing. It further stated that all members would receive a refund of any paid subscription fees and payout of any winnings. The payout process could take up to six weeks. Complicating it more, anyone with over $600 in winnings needs to validate their identity in order to collect their payout.
So far, no one has stepped forward with an explanation as to why Zosoz shut down so soon and so suddenly. Time Belisle, head of Zosoz, has yet to release any comments.
Zosoz claimed to be one of the few legal poker sites in the United States, for the same reason that ClubWPT also claims to be. Instead of being a gambling site, it functioned as a gaming site where players played for social enjoyment, skill improvement, and real prizes that were up for grabs. For a monthly subscription fee, members could become elite members and could play without the hassle of advertisements and win even bigger prizes.
Some of these prizes included World Series of Poker Main Event seats, $72,000in yearly cash prizes for guest members, and $3.5 million in yearly cash prizes for elite members!
However, these real prizes may not have been as real as they seemed. Rumors are showing up across poker forums that some of the prize checks mailed out to Zosoz’s members weren’t able to clear the bank, which could be one of the reasons behind Zosoz shutting down its services.
Zosoz joins the list of failed subscription poker sites, with Fleet Street Games and Duplicate Poker. Now Pure Play and ClubWPT are the only two sizable subscritption poker rooms left.