Online global poker giant PokerStars is preparing to move its North American users onto the FanDuel platform, allowing players in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan to join in a shared player pool.
The result is expected to be larger prizepools, more players and bigger tournament guarantees, including the regular running of the Sunday Million — PokerStars’ flagship weekly tournament which guarantees a million-dollar prizepool every week.
Players in Ontario will also be moved onto the FanDuel platform, although for now the benefits of shared liquidity will only be enjoyed by those in the US.
The platform is being branded as ‘PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel’ and will require players to create a new FanDuel Casino account if they do not already have one. No action will be necessary for those with existing FanDuel accounts.
The exact timing of the player migration is still to be announced, but PokerStars has confirmed that players will stop earning PokerStars Rewards from March 13, when they will receive cash payments for unopened chests as well as pro-rated amounts for incompleted progress bars.
With that date just days away, it surely can’t be long until the move is complete. The standalone PokerStars app and client will be active up to the point of migration, offering the usual mix of cash games and tournaments.
Once the move is finalized, gameplay will no longer be possible on the existing PokerStars app or client. Players will have 30 days to withdraw their funds, after which a check for their remaining balance will be sent to players’ registered addresses.
Why is this happening?
PokerStars and FanDuel share a parent company in Flutter Entertainment.
FanDuel operates various gaming services, including daily fantasy sports, casino gaming, sportsbooks, and FanDuel Predicts, a recently launched prediction market service.
First launched in 2001, PokerStars made its name as a pure-poker product, trading for many years under the slogan ‘We Are Poker’. But the company’s move away from poker purism began over a decade ago with the launch of casino games and sports betting, under sub-brands such as PokerStars Casino and BetStars.
From the point these additional gaming services were launched, PokerStars relied heavily on cross-promotion to bring casino patrons, sports bettors and poker players together, offering shared wallets, promos and rewards programs to help integrate their more diverse player bases.
It’s no secret that casino games are more profitable than running poker games — online or off — and with financial analysts pointing to a steady decline in Flutter Entertainment’s share price over the past five years, the move to provide PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel looks to be a way to increase the bottom line while potentially making savings due to economies of scale.
What this means for players
Merged liquidity between states has long been the goal of online players in the USA, particularly those who remember the worldwide player pools of the pre-Black Friday era.
Bringing together players from New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania will go some way towards establishing a larger base and should result in more tables running and less time waiting, as well as bigger guarantees and larger fields in tournaments.
In the short term, PokerStars players in the three US states listed above, plus Ontario in Canada, will need to create a FanDuel account as the PokerStars client will cease to operate. A dedicated PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel app and client will be available for download, while a shared wallet will allow players to use funds for poker or any other activities available at FanDuel.
Any PokerStars Casino progressive jackpots still to pay out when the switchover occurs will be distributed to those who participated, though the company has stated that only progressive contributions will be returned, not the total stake wagered.
Dedicated online information hubs are launching for players in Ontario, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan today. These will also contain information on various promotions to support the launch. Search ‘PokerStars x FanDuel InfoHub’ for more details.
While the bigger games and prizes made possible by shared liquidity will have obvious appeal for poker players in the affected states, many are likely to feel a pang of nostalgia as the company that once claimed ‘We Are Poker’ takes a step back from the spotlight it once dominated.
How do you feel about the move? Let us know in the comments.
