British company SafeCharge has announced the PokerStars MasterCard, which provides British players direct access to their PokerStars account.
SafeCharge made a press release about the card:
"The StarsCard is a free, highly secure web and mobile account for PokerStars players. StarsCard is connected to PokerStars, provides direct access, deposits and withdrawals to British PokerStars players."
Currently the StarsCard is only available for UK players, but it will be introduced to other countries if local laws make it possible. SafeCharge is a well-known company in the industry, they are partners with Telefónica, Orange and Visa Europe.
PokerStars aims to eliminate other payments processors, such as Skrill and Neteller. According to PokerStars the card is introduced to protect the players, who can keep their poker funds seperate from their savings.
Christian Solomine, the vice president of PayNearMe has talked about seperated funds at the IGNA conference in Las Vegas.
"Customers don’t always make rational financial decisions. If someone loses a $50 theater ticket, they have to make a financial decision – whether to buy a new one or not. According to a study, people who lose this $50 in cash are more likely to go to the theater then people who lose the already purchased tickets, even though there is no difference from a financial perspective."
PokerStars has also stated that the card also strengthens the commitment to the brand, because players can directly relate their purchases to their poker wins.
StarsCards could also be useful in other situations, we have previously reported about the Italian player living in Dresden who currently cannot access his winnings of $60,000, because his bank, Unicredit has frozen the money, claiming the winnings came from illegal gambling. With the help of the card, he could have easily accessed his money, but currently his best chance is to take the case to the European Court.
PokerStars room review and registration
