PokerStars Moving Farther Away From Poker Each Day

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Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015 | Written by Lucy Brown

As the largest online poker website in the world, PokerStars is largely responsible for setting the trends in the poker industry. The site has powerful brand recognition. In fact, it’s usually the first site that people think of when the words “online poker” are mentioned. But will that remain the case forever? Probably not.

Every since Amaya Gaming purchased PokerStars, changes have been underway that have made a huge impact on the site. It’s clear that Amaya is focusing less and less on poker despite owning the world’s largest poker site, which has “POKER” in its name. The company is showing all of the signs of trying to attract online poker players before then luring them into other games, instead of offering them the gaming experience that they originally came for. As Amaya’s CEO David Baazov mentioned last year:

“With the continuing trend of online gaming regulation around the world, the company has in front of itself an enormous opportunity to leverage its brand recognition and customer loyalty to diversify into other gaming verticals as casino, sports betting, and social gaming.”

Casino Games and Spin & Go’s

Many subtle changes have taken place at PokerStars since Amaya acquired the site. Online casino games such as blackjack and roulette have been added to the site’s gambling mix, followed soon after by online slot games. As part of PokerStars’ shifting focus, innovative poker-themed games were devised to attract recreational players, although these so-called Spin & Go games required little of the skill originally associated with poker. Elaborating further, in Spin & Go games a large spinning money prize wheel turns before stopping at a point that could mean a large cash prize. This game is clearly something like roulette or online slots, not poker, but it’s being heavily marketed by Amaya at PokerStars. While many online poker players may decide to give the game a spin or two to make quick money, there is no way that it can be argued that Spin & Go is a skill-based poker game.

Changes to the VIP Club

PokerStars VIP Club had a top tier called the Supernova Elite that provided handsome rewards for those who were willing to play for long periods of time or “grind” as it is commonly called. A number of professional poker players emerged from these “grinding” sessions, honing their skills by playing game after game. Many novices have also become seasoned, skilled players due to the incentives supplied by PokerStars. Recently, Amaya made the decision to eliminate the top tier from the PokerStars VIP Club, essentially removing all of the motivation for players to continually visit the site. Of course, the move will save Amaya money, but it will have a major effect on which games players choose to participate in and may cause some players to look elsewhere.

Sportsbetting

This month, PokerStars launched its sportsbetting operation called BetStars. Although its initial offering is limited to a select number of domains, such as Betstars.com, Betstars.eu, and Betstars.uk, the number of platforms available are expected to expand soon. In the meantime, PokerStars players are also able to visit BetStars via their PokerStars client, and commenting on the overall move into sportsbetting, Rational Group CEO Rafi Ashkenazi stated:

“We’re applying the same dedication and passion we have for poker to sports betting, and intend to create an authentic, world-class offering. The BetStars brand will build on this passion and provide a safe, trustworthy and, most importantly, exciting environment for sports fans.”

PokerStars is now hoping to reach at least half of its huge customer base through its new sportsbook, and also said it would be running a campaign to attract fresh customers in the second half of 2016.

An Opportunity

For poker players, the changes to PokerStars that are taking place because of Amaya’s new approach to branding the iGaming site are largely unwelcome, but for competitors in the online poker space, the move could be a great opportunity. Sites that have in the past been unable to compete with PokerStars now have the chance to position themselves as sites that are and will remain dedicated to online poker only. While some players will continue to frequent PokerStars because of its size, there are plenty out there who are looking for a new place to play. The question is which site will rise to the occasion and become the one they choose.