PokerStars completes casino roll-out, says Spain back online within weeks
Operator forced to withdraw Spanish casino after technical problems and surprises players with rollback of poker rake charge increases
PokerStars said the technical problem that forced it to withdraw its casino client in Spain would be solved within a “matter of weeks” as it confirmed the completion of its global casino roll-out.
The global roll-out was first revealed in November when PokerStars said its new casino product would reach half of its global player base by the end of the year.
And Pokerstars head of communications Eric Hollreiser this morning told eGaming Review the roll-out had been completed on schedule and the casino had been “performing well”, despite problems affecting its Spanish-facing client.
PokerStars first launched its casino platform in Spain back in October, with the operator claiming it has achieved “double-digit” market share despite no external marketing campaign.
But the company was forced to pull its casino product from the Spanish market last month in order to “fix a minor technical issue”.
Hollreiser said blackjack hands and roulette spin histories were not available directly within the software, as required under Spanish regulations, but expected the games to return in the next few weeks.
“This issue has resulted in no negative impact on the playing experience nor the integrity of our games,” Hollreiser said.
“Nevertheless, we are taking these steps to ensure that our software is 100% compliant with all relevant requirements,” he added.
Some observers had suggested PokerStars may have pulled its online casino due the possibility of it attracting players away from its core poker product.
However, Hollreiser said casino had been “drawing new players to the site” and had achieved “better than expected cross-sell” with poker players, with a “negligible impact” on its poker business.
The firm also announced that it will be reversing a recent decision to increase poker rake charges in “most instances”, increases which first came into effect in November with further hikes planned for this month.
PokerStars said the rollback of increased charges would place in jurisdictions where it had not been hit by recent increases to gaming duty and VAT, which seemingly rules out reductions in countries such as the UK and Germany, or where there are planned increases to taxation.
“We will continue to use a combination of rake increases and VIP Club reward reductions to address the increased taxation, but these changes will be made consistent with our past practice of sharing up to 50% of taxation with players,” Hollreiser added.