Flutter pulls plug on PokerStars Asian market trio
Poker giant to exit China, Taiwan and Macau on 1 September as operator reviews global market exposure
PokerStars will cease operations in China, Taiwan and Macau from 1 September as parent company Flutter Entertainment cuts the cord on black-market revenue following its multi-billion-pound merger with The Stars Group (TSG).
In a customer email seen by EGR, the poker operator confirmed its departure and informed players to withdraw account funds.
Online payment specialist MuchBetter was recruited as a withdrawal method in China to allow access to funds before account closure, while Skrill and NETELLER were enabled as a withdrawal option for players in Taiwan.
PokerStars has also lowered its minimum wire amount to $50 (£37) to facilitate withdrawals.
These Asian market shutdowns form part of Flutter Entertainment’s wide-ranging review of compliance and market exposure at PokerStars.
The review aims to bring PokerStars in line with other Flutter brands, with the overarching aim of improving the quality and sustainability of the combined businesses.
Wow this is huge news. Just checked lobbies from yesterday and wasn't single Chinese account in the 1k psko for example, must already be kicked? Huge news as Chinese guys are big action in the HS. https://t.co/jduVBwHbd2
— Patrick Leonard
(@padspoker) August 31, 2020
Flutter will continue to examine the quality of TSG’s safer gambling and AML procedures, as well as assessing the legal, regulatory and tax risks of each of its respective international markets.
The London-listed giant revealed it would cease operations across a small number of TSG jurisdictions during its H1 2020 financial results last week.
In a statement provided to EGR, a spokesperson for Flutter said “As confirmed in our interim results statement last week we have been reviewing the compliance standards and market exposures of the combined Group following our transaction,”.
“While we are yet to fully complete our review, we have identified areas where improvements need to be made. There were a small number of TSG jurisdictions that Flutter had previously determined it would not operate in and in such cases, these markets are being switched off,”
“We estimate that the combined impact of these measures will reduce contribution on an annualised basis by c.£65m, the majority of which relates to aligning our responsible gambling/compliance procedures and putting Flutter’s enhanced checks in place across the PokerStars business,” the Flutter spokesperson added.
The Chinese government has pursued a zero-tolerance approach to online gambling over the last two years, notably banning online poker and the promotion of the vertical via social media channels in June 2018.