Poker Writer
PokerStars Ontario announced that it will no longer offer poker as of May 7 and will transition to co-branding with FanDuel. The announcement on X stated that users’ PokerStars accounts will remain accessible until June 4. The transition will take place sometime in May, with the exact date not yet announced.
This mirrors the move that PokerStars made in the U.S.A. on April 1, when the online poker brand pulled out of the states where it had operated. That pullout signaled the end of PokerStars USA after lofty expectations. Parent company Flutter opted to relaunch its shared U.S. poker pool under the FanDuel banner, though that process has seen its share of struggles.
Keep Reading
Ontario PokerStars Players’ International Hopes Finished?
Ontario courts ruled in November that the pooled or shared liquidity model for internet gaming was now legal in the province. The ruling allowed Ontario poker players to play with international peers in the main dot-com pools. That liquidity would have been vital to a thriving poker economy.
The international player pooling never actually occurred. Instead, PokerStars reached this point, when pooling was theoretically possible, only to now close.
Players will migrate to PokerStars on FanDuel, the same as their American counterparts. The MSIGA allows for U.S. states to share player pools on the new FanDuel poker platform. Flutter’s relaunched product boosted the player pool by adding Pennsylvania. It’s unclear whether that shared pool can include Ontario.
There was some theoretical discussion that Ontario could join the MSIGA back in November. It would require navigating different federal and provincial laws, but it would be possible, according to gaming attorney Jeff Ifrah.
Little progress has been made since the court ruling seven months ago. In the short term, it kills Ontario PokerStars players’ hopes of international poker. The ceiling now looks to be joining the American pool, but even that would pale next to the potential that PokerStars Ontario had before, when playing in the dot-com pool was a realistic aspiration.
Image credit: Bobby Hidy/Flickr (license)
