- Cash game rake cannot be increased due to the nature of shared liquidity tables; changing fees for SNGs and MTTs would make marketing the tournaments difficult.
- “New tournament fees will apply in rebuy tournaments for players whose play is subject to significant local taxes in the form of gaming duty and/or VAT.
- Normally the VIP program is manipulated to pass on costs to players in regulated markets.
- Belgium, Denmark, Bulgaria, UK and Germany affected.
As part of the overhaul of rake announced Thursday, the online poker room also disclosed a new strategy for raising revenue in certain countries that remain on the global dot-com player pool.
Online poker rooms are generally restricted on ways they can increase revenue in regulated markets when the player pool is shared. Cash game rake cannot be increased due to the nature of shared liquidity tables; fees for SNGs and MTTs could theoretically increase though, as the contribution to the prize pool must remain the same, it makes marketing the tournaments difficult (a $100 buyin tournament would become, say, $102).
Until now the primary means of increasing revenue is with the reduction of VIP benefits. The number of points awarded for each dollar of rake contributed, the VIP point multipliers, cash bonuses and other factors of a loyalty program can be tweaked in each country to pass on some of the costs associated with regulated markets to the customer.
PokerStars has come up with an additional means—adding rake taken on tournament rebuys and add-ons.
