PokerStars Players Experience Problems After Migrating To UK Platform

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Monday, November 10th, 2014 | Written by Shane Larson

A few weeks back, the UK subsidiary of PokerStar announced it was to launch its new platform in Britain in order to accommodate the country’s new piece of legislation called the ‘Gambling, Licensing and Advertising Act 2014. The Act requires online gambling operators to obtain a special UK license to service the UK market, as well as pay a 15% tax on revenues generated from UK players.

At the time of the announcement, the company issued a statement on its website, stating: “The process is quick and straightforward, and will usually take under a minute to complete.”

On November 3rd, PokerStars players were then able to download the new software and migrate to the new UK client, but the process was not as smooth as PokerStars UK had hoped, and on November 5th a number of UK players had their games interrupted by a series of unexpected software problems.

Should Have Been A Formality

The PokerStars UK migration should have been a simple formality but, instead, the process lead to near panic across internet message boards as players reported a myriad of problems. The issues affecting players included the following:

. Inability to transfer funds from PokerStars.UK to PokerStars.EU.
. Inability to register for Spin & Gos
. Stellar rewards not appearing in the VIP Store
. VPP multiplier for Sit-and-Go’s and MTT tournaments incorrectly awarding a 5x multiplier, instead of a correct 5.5x multiplier
. Inaccessible BOOM Hand Replayer

Furthermore, on November 5th many UK players suffered the ultimate frustration after an unexpected software problem caused them to be booted off their game in the middle of a tournament. Adding to their woes, these players were then greeted with the message:

“We are sorry, PokerStars does not offer Real Money games in your area.”

No Tournament Refunds Based On Equity

Masses of bewildered UK PokerStars players subsequently took to internet message boards to inquire whether online poker had suddenly become illegal in the UK. Following the flurry of activity, the matter was resolved within about twenty minutes, but while affected players naturally had their tournament buy-ins refunded, other players who had been deep in tournaments with big stacks felt cheated not to have been allocated a bigger refund based upon tournament equity.

Nevertheless, PokerStars seemed adamant that no such concessions would be made, and responding to one player’s request, issued the following message:

“Unfortunately we do not provide refunds based on tournament equity for circumstances such as you’ve experienced.

In the past, there have been occasions where we have granted refunds based on equity. However, situations at the time were extremely unique and as a result, this very rare resolution of reviewing equity lost in tournaments was used. The last time equity based requests were eligible was during a major World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) event. At this time, technical issues from PokerStars severely and negatively impacted an inequity in the way many of our tournaments were running. As a result, it was decided after discussions through senior management to review refund requests based on equity lost throughout each tournament.

We apologize that we cannot make similar considerations for your individual circumstance.”

PokerStars Appears To Backtrack

While PokerStars initially appeared resolute in not awarding extra funds to players according to the equity they had when the tournament prematurely ended, a number of complaints by disgruntled players seems to have resulted in PokerStars having a change of heart.

On the TwoPlusTwo forums, for example, one tournament player claims to have been granted a “really fair” refund after airing his grievance with PokerStars customer services, and subsequently encouraged others affected players to follow a similar path.

Backlash To PokerStars Policy Change

Since Amaya Gaming acquired PokerStars on August 1st, its new Canadian owner has implemented a number of policy changes which have been received negatively by many of the site’s regular customers. PokerStars’ latest hiccup in the UK will do little to improve the situation and, if not handled correctly, could simply serve to further alienate its loyal customers base.

One of the first group of associates Amaya Gaming upset was a number of its long-standing affiliates, who not only had their contracts terminated, but were also informed that they would no longer receive payment for players they had introduced to PokerStars in the past. As Poker.org owner Markus Sonermo, remarked at the time:

“I congratulate you [PokerStars] on your short term gain. But know one thing, me and the people like me we will never forget. And we will never go away because this business is what we do and know and love. And we don’t do business with people who steal from us no matter who owns it.”

In addition to upsetting its affiliates, in recent months PokerStars has also caused consternation amongst its regular grinders by rolling out the first of its online gambling games, known as Spin and Go’s, and increasing the size of the rake it charges players.