PokerStars Abruptly Pauses Swiss Online Poker as it Awaits Authorization PokerStars Abruptly Pauses Swiss Online Poker as it Awaits Authorization
ND Strupler, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License
Key Takeaways
  • The new law was adopted on January 1 but only came into full force on July 1.
  • PokerStars is understood to be pursuing a license through the necessary channels to brings its online poker games online.
  • “As part of this process and in line with the new Swiss licensing regime, we are required to suspend real money play as from July 1, 2019.”
  • According to the FAQ, it appears that players need to migrate their accounts, and that the Stars Rewards and StarsCoin systems will end.

On Monday, online poker giant PokerStars put a pause to all online poker games in Switzerland as the new Money Gaming Act came into effect.

The new law, which was adopted on January 1 but only came into full force on July 1, puts together for the first time a framework for licensed online gambling. It also gives additional powers to clamp down on offshore-licensed site.

PokerStars is understood to be pursuing a license through the necessary channels to brings its poker games online. However, authorization was not in place in time for the July 1 deadline.

On Monday, PRO exclusively revealed that the company is “currently executing plans to ensure PokerStars will continue to be the market leader in the Swiss poker market.”

However, soon after the publication of the article, the operator took its online poker games offline with only very short notice sent to Swiss players.