PokerStars will run on the Betfair platform in the United Kingdom from August 13, the first stage of a restructuring at Flutter Entertainment that pools players from its poker brands into shared liquidity. In the UK the brand will be called PokerStars on Betfair, and customers keep the PokerStars software along with access to the global player pool.
British players keep Sunday Million, SCOOP, WCOOP, Spin & Go and European Poker Tour qualifiers. Paddy Power Poker and Sky Poker are to move onto PokerStars software in the coming months, which would add liquidity to that global pool. Flutter has already run the model: in Italy PokerStars operates with Sisal and SNAI, in North America with FanDuel. Bigger fields and more frequent play are the bet.
Mike Woodbridge, chief commercial officer at PokerStars, tied the change to fragmentation in the global poker market. 'The market environment has become harder for brands like PokerStars in recent years,' he said. Regulation differs from country to country, so the company left some markets and stayed out of others. Players felt it through thinner fields and smaller tournament prizes. The new model is meant to bring them back to the tables.
Kim Daly, managing director at Betfair, called the integration a significant moment for the industry and pointed to poker, sports betting and casino sitting inside one product. From August 13 Betfair Poker customers will reach poker through PokerStars on Betfair. PokerStars players outside the UK stay on the current platform, while UK players get the global pool through the new client.
