PokerStars has withdrawn from from 30 countries without giving any prior notice to players. They have assured players that their funds are safe and will be paid out, but players from the affected countries are very upset and concerned about how PokerStars handled this issue. In other PS related news, they have introduced the Spin & Go tournament format in their .EU/.COM sites, and have started to offer casino services to the Spanish market.
The news of PokerStars leaving from 30 Asian and Islamic countries came as a huge surprise, especially after PokerStars claimed that it planned to stay in all of its current markets. The list of countries could expand, but at this point we know that PokerStars has left the following markets:
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zimbabwe, the occupied territory of Palestine and Vatican City.
When a player sent an e-mail to PokerStars support asking why there was no warning and why they decided to leave, he got the following answer:
"Please note our management team regularly reviews our operations along with independent 3rd party professionals to assess the business risks and opportunities for our brands on a market-by-market basis. Following our most recent review, it was determined that we would no longer offer real money games in Turkey starting today…"
Many players have reported getting the exact same e-mail (obviously with different countries). PokerStars support has confirmed that the player account balances are perfectly safe and can be withdrawn at any time.
So far there has been no other official notice from PokerStars regarding the matter, and players from the affected countries are very confused and angry about the situation. It is unclear at this point why PokerStars has decided to pull out from these markets.
At the same time, PokerStars has been busy elsewhere aswell. They have introduced Spin & Go tournaments, which is PokerStars own version of the so called "lottery Sit & Go" format, that French room Winamax introduced back in 2013. In Spin & Go tournaments, there are 3 players, each starting with 500 chips and the blinds increase every 3 minutes.
The prize pool is multiplied by a certain number, from just the double of the buy-in all the way to 1000 times your buy-in, which is why the format became so popular so quickly, recreational players are eager to chase a jackpot and win up to $1,000 on their $1 investment. When playing a tournament that has one of the three highest multipliers, all three players get money, which is an additional incentive for players to try to hit one of the jackpots.
PokerStars has introduced the tournaments in the Spanish client, then the French and Italian client, and now .EU/.COM players can play these tournaments aswell. If you want to learn more about the structures and multipliers, head over to the PokerStars website.
Ever since the Amaya acquisition, the company has been very vocal about expanding into other gambling forms aswell. Full Tilt Poker already has plenty of casino and table games, but now PokerStars has introduced casino games aswell, in their Spanish client.
At this point on PokerStars.es, only roulette and blackjack games are available, but they are expanding the offering constantly. PokerStars expects poker revenues to go up aswell, since there will be players who will register to PokerStars.es to play casino games, but might get interested in poker aswell. PokerStars has also stated that they want to preserve their leading position in the online poker market and the Spanish market, and introducing casino games is a step that will help this goal.
There is now information regarding the introduction of casino and table games on PokerStars.com/PokerStars.eu.
