- Ten stories exclusively to PRO covering breaking industry stories from last year.
Coral Poker Completes Migration to Partypoker Network (January 2020)
Top line: “Coral Poker has completed its move over to the partypoker network. The transition was originally scheduled for December but later delayed until the New Year.”
Key takeaways:
- The migration ultimately occurred around a week ago, PRO understands.
- The Coral Poker website suggests that players will now participate in party’s lucrative Cashback loyalty program.
- Ladbrokes Poker is also expected to make this migration in Q1 2020.
Last Remaining Sports Ambassador Fatima Moreira de Melo Parts Ways with PokerStars (February 2020)
Top line: “Fatima Moreira de Melo, former Dutch field Hockey player and Olympic Gold Medalist, has quietly left the PokerStars Pro roster.”
Key takeaways:
- Former Dutch field Hockey player and Olympic Gold Medalist has quietly left PokerStars.
- “We can confirm that Fatima’s contract with us as an ambassador has ended.”
- De Melo is the second ambassador to bid farewell to the company already this year.
Kevin Rabichow to be Announced as First Run it Once Team Pro (February 2020)
Top line: “Kevin Rabichow, a high stakes no limit Hold’em player and coach at the Run it Once training site, will soon be announced as the very first ambassador of Run it Once Poker.”
Key takeaways:
- While no formal announcement has been made, details were revealed during a livestream of the Phil Galfond Challenge.
- Unlike for regular players on the site, Rabichow will be identified by has real name during play.
- Rabichow has been a coach with the Run it Once training site since 2014.
Grosvenor Poker Will Also Switch from MPN to iPoker (May 2020)
Top line: “Grosvenor Poker, the online poker room owned by publicly traded Rank Group plc, will be moving to the iPoker network when its current network MPN closes on May 19, PRO can confirm.”
Key takeaways:
- Over half of all MPN skins are planning to migrate over iPoker in the next two weeks.
- “We are excited to announce that we will be joining iPoker … and look forward to utilising their greatly improved poker platform.”
- It runs the annual Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT), which visits poker rooms at Grosvenor locations across the UK.
Two More Brands Move to iPoker as Enlabs Completes Transition from GGPoker (July 2020)
Top line: “Publicly-listed Swedish online gambling company Enlabs has successfully completed the migration of its online poker operation from GGPoker over to Playtech’s iPoker network.”
Key takeaways:
- The Curacao-licensed BestPoker.com and a pair of Optibet sites licensed in Latvia and Estonia switched today.
- Bestpoker operated on Ongame for years until the network closed in 2016, then it moved to GGPoker.
- The Bestpoker website and client are available in English and Russian.
- Optibet is one of the few operators locally licensed in Latvia and Estonia.
Partypoker Will Remove Player-to-Player Transfers Next Week (July 2020)
Top line: “Partypoker, the online poker brand of GVC Holdings, will remove functionality that allows players to send and receive money to other players on the platform from next week.”
Key takeaways:
- “I don’t know the exact details… as I understand it, governments and regulators are clamping down.”
- Player to player transfers have a long history in online poker and are available at the majority of established online poker rooms.
PokerStars Confirms Exit from “Small Number of Jurisdictions” (September 2020)
Top line: “PokerStars has exited the markets of China, Macau and Taiwan, according to emails sent to customers on August 31. The change came on September 1, impacting players on PokerStars’ global “dot-EU” site, which falls under a Maltese gaming license.”
Key takeaways:
- PokerStars has exited the markets of China, Macau and Taiwan, according to emails sent to customers on August 31.
- Further market exits may come as the compliance review was still underway.
- It is unclear what this means for the operator’s broader presence in the Asian markets.
- PokerStars has a partnership with Red Dragon Poker, which is connected to PokerStars through a special Asia client.
PokerStars Exits Serbia, Shows Commitment in Japan (September 2020)
Top line: “PokerStars has withdrawn its service from Serbia, according to multiple reports from customers in the region, PRO understands.”
Key takeaways:
- On September 10, PokerStars contacted Serbian players and informed them that the service was no longer available.
- The Eastern European country, population 7 million, has had a regulated online gambling market since 2011.
- The site has recently launched satellites and online tournaments for the Japan Open Poker Tour.
PokerStars Has Apparently Ended its Relationship with Chinese Third-Party 6UP Poker (September 2020)
Top line: “It appears that PokerStars has ended its relationship with 6UP, a third party that provided access to the real money poker tables of PokerStars’ global player pool.”
Key takeaways:
- Regular tables started to disappear from the PokerStars Asia client last week.
- On September 1, PokerStars confirmed to PRO it was exiting a small number of jurisdictions, including China.
- The client itself offered no account services, cashier functionality, or rewards program.
- It remains to be seen whether further market withdrawals are on the cards.
Partypoker Prepares for December Grey Market Exodus (November 2020)
Top line: “Online poker room partypoker is readying to exit more than a dozen markets following parent company GVC’s earlier pronouncement that it would be 100% nationally regulated within three years, PRO has learned.”
Key takeaways:
- From tomorrow, December 1, players in affected countries will no longer be able to deposit.
- PRO understands that players in Poland, Norway and Montenegro received correspondence last week.
- Canada has been reclassified as “regulating.”
- GVC has identified some 60 jurisdictions worldwide where it feels it can operate under national license.
