Montana Poker Room Apparently Folds - A Sign of Things To Come?

Montana Poker Room, on the World Stock Exchange within SecondLife has apparently folded. From unconfirmed reports, Montana Ryder has been missing for approximately 3 weeks - enough so that some notes sent to the World Stock Exchange allegedly caused the stock, MPR, to be frozen.

Yet the last announcement from MPR on April 30th, 2007 states:

MPR Rewards Program a Great Success

As of April 16th MPR introduced its new MPR Rewards Program. MPR the leader in poker tournaments in Second Life introduced a Rewards Program for tournament players. All Players are automatically awarded points based on how they do in each tournament. No dealer interaction is needed. Players can view the top 100 of the day, week, month and all time in multiple display board locations posted around MPR's twin building locations. The Point leader of each day is awarded 3000L. The top 10 in points each week are awarded a seat in a 5000L freeroll. The first weeks Freeroll tournament for the point leaders was a great success and players are looking forward to next week. The top 20 of each Month are awarded a seat in a 15k freeroll.

Feel free to come check out the MPR rewards system and how it works, as well as the display boards and kiosks. MPR The best in tournament action in SL, often copied, never outdone.

Best,

Montana Ryder
Montana's Poker Room

With a stock frozen, certainly there should be an announcement related to the investigation. The silence seems to confirm the rumor that Montana absconded with the funds... perhaps 3 million Linden dollars, or roughly $10,000 US dollars.

The Bigger Picture

Consider what happened with Touchet Group Corporation - where the financial damage was inflicted by an almost secret 150% fine from [w:Linden Lab] (which certainly demonstrates a need for some policy change and/or clarity in Linden Lab policy...again...). While this is not the case with MPR, it does demonstrate that because Linden Lab chose to - the [w:corporate veil] was pierced. But what can a stock exchange within SecondLife do but make choking sounds?

While Linden Lab and the mainstream press are focused on growing a user base through corporate financing, there does seem to be a lack of addressing issues related to land and finance which impact the existing and future user base. It would be wise for Linden Lab to deal with these issues.

Meanwhile, WSE continues to flood flood IPOs and decrease liquidity in the market... perhaps even devaluing the stock of those who went before and have legitimate businesses. Shareholder expectations are always high - perhaps too high with marketing. It would seem that the bubble may be bursting soon - and if it does, it will be interesting to see who is left standing.

And yes, I am an investor too.